Niobium pentoxide hollow nanospheres with enhanced visible light photocatalytic activity

Lihong Li; Jinxia Deng; Ranbo Yu; Jun Chen; Zheng Wang; Xianran Xing

doi:10.1039/C3TA12599H

Niobium pentoxide hollow nanospheres with enhanced visible light photocatalytic activity

Lihong Li,^a Jinxia Deng,^a Ranbo Yu,^a Jun Chen,^a Zheng Wang^a and Xianran Xing*^a^b

* Corresponding authors

^a Department of Physical Chemistry, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
E-mail: xing@ustb.edu.cn
Fax: +86 6233 2525
Tel: +86 6233 4200

^b State Key Laboratory for Advanced Metals and Materials, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China

Abstract

Herein, we developed a simple template-free synthetic method for producing niobium pentoxide (Nb₂O₅) hollow nanospheres, and fabricated KNbO₃ hollow nanospheres which retained the morphology of the template Nb₂O₅ hollow nanospheres by the molten salt method. The formation of Nb₂O₅ hollow nanospheres was via Ostwald ripening, and the structural evolution between niobium oxide and niobates was a kind of self-sacrificing templated process. These Nb₂O₅ hollow nanospheres with high surface energy (001) planes showed high thermal stability and large surface area. Furthermore, they not only showed strong intensity of blue emission, but they were also able to efficiently split water under visible light irradiation, and show potential for application as sensors, optoelectronic devices and promising photocatalysts for water splitting under visible light. Due to the high thermal stability of Nb₂O₅ hollow nanospheres and the simplicity of the protocol, we anticipate that this work will enrich the hollow nanostructures of inorganic compounds and provide a new strategy to synthesize hollow nanospheres of niobates and other kinds of materials.

Supplementary files

Publication details

The article was received on 03 Jul 2013, accepted on 29 Jul 2013 and first published on 30 Jul 2013

Article type: Paper

DOI: 10.1039/C3TA12599H

Citation: J. Mater. Chem. A, 2013,1, 11894-11900

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Niobium pentoxide hollow nanospheres with enhanced visible light photocatalytic activity

L. Li, J. Deng, R. Yu, J. Chen, Z. Wang and X. Xing, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2013, 1, 11894
DOI: 10.1039/C3TA12599H
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Journal of Materials Chemistry A

Niobium pentoxide hollow nanospheres with enhanced visible light photocatalytic activity

Abstract

Supplementary files

Publication details

Niobium pentoxide hollow nanospheres with enhanced visible light photocatalytic activity

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