A facile flame assisted approach to fabricate Ta2O5 microspheres

•A flame-assisted hydrolysis method to synthesize microspherical Ta2O5 powders was reported for the first time.•No special setups or equipment is required for the formation of Ta2O5 microspheres.•Improved photocatalytic performance was observed for annealed Ta2O5 microspheres on the degradation of methylene blue.•Ta2O5 microspheres were used in fabricating DSSC photoanodes for the first time.

We report a novel and facile method to prepare microspherical Ta2O5 powders by flame assisted hydrolysis of tantalum ethoxide. The as-prepared samples were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS) . Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were constructed using the obtained Ta2O5 microspheres as photoanode which showed reasonable performance (shot-circuit current density is 0.032 mA cm−2, open-circuit voltage is 0.51 V, fill factor is 0.344, and energy conversion efficiency is 0.0057%). Improved photocatalytic performance was also demonstrated for Ta2O5 microsphere on the degradation of methylene blue compared with commercial Ta2O5. This work provides a novel and energy-saving way to synthesize microspherical Ta2O5 powders which has the potential of application in dye-sensitized solar cells and photodegradation.