Visible light activated photocatalytic TaON coatings deposited via pulsed-DC magnetron sputtering

• Tantalum oxynitride coatings were deposited by magnetron sputtering.
• TaON coatings are found to be efficient visible light photocatalysts.
• TaON showed higher visible light activity than the commercial glazing product.

Tantalum oxynitride coatings were deposited via reactive pulsed-DC magnetron sputtering. The nitrogen content in the coatings, governed by the flow rate of nitrogen gas, affected the resulting crystallinity of the annealed films and their optical band gap. The photocatalytic activity, as measured via organic dye degradation, was strongly linked to these properties, with those coatings containing the highest nitrogen levels exhibiting visible light activity. Upon comparison, this activity was found to be significantly higher than commercial titanium dioxide photocatalysts.