First observation of visible light photocatalytic activity of carbon modified Nb2O5 nanostructures

Suxiang Ge; Huimin Jia; Hongxiao Zhao; Zhi Zheng; Lizhi Zhang

doi:10.1039/B923586H

First observation of visible light photocatalytic activity of carbon modified Nb₂O₅nanostructures

Suxiang Ge,^ab Huimin Jia,^b Hongxiao Zhao,^b Zhi Zheng*^b and Lizhi Zhang*^a

* Corresponding authors

^a Key Laboratory of Pesticide & Chemical Biology of Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, P. R. China
E-mail: zhanglz@mail.ccnu.edu.cn
Fax: +86 27 67867535
Tel: +86 27 67867535

^b Institute of Surface Micro and Nano Materials, Xuchang University, Xuchang, P. R. China
E-mail: zhengzhi9999@yahoo.com.cn
Fax: +86 374 4369209
Tel: +86 374 4369209

Abstract

Carbon-modified niobium oxide (Nb₂O₅) nanostructures, that firstly exhibited good visible light photocatalytic activity of Nb₂O₅ species, were synthesized by utilizing a low temperature, one-pot nonaqueous sol–gel approach. The resulting products were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and nitrogen adsorption. Unlike the commercial or other reported Nb₂O₅ products that only respond to the UV-light irradiation, the present carbon-modified Nb₂O₅ nanostructures obtained at 200 °C in our experiment exhibited much better photocatalytic activity on degradation of RhB under visible light, which was about 39 times of that of commercial Nb₂O₅, 18 times of that of Degussa P25, and 5 times of that of carbon modified mesoporous TiO₂. Moreover, these carbon-modified Nb₂O₅ nanostructures were also able to efficiently split water under visible light. The growth mechanism and the origin of visible light photocatalytic activity of the resulting Nb₂O₅ nanostructures were proposed. These carbon-modified Nb₂O₅ products are expected to be more suitable candidates than that of the most studied TiO₂ as visible light photocatalysts.

Article information

https://doi.org/10.1039/B923586H

Article type

Paper

Submitted

11 Nov 2009

Accepted

08 Jan 2010

First published

19 Feb 2010

Download Citation

J. Mater. Chem., 2010,20, 3052-3058

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First observation of visible light photocatalytic activity of carbon modified Nb₂O₅ nanostructures

S. Ge, H. Jia, H. Zhao, Z. Zheng and L. Zhang, J. Mater. Chem., 2010, 20, 3052 DOI: 10.1039/B923586H

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Journal of Materials Chemistry