Novel nano-flowers of Nb2O5 by template free synthesis and enhanced photocatalytic response under visible light

Faryal Idrees, Chuanbao Cao*, R. Ahmed, Faheem K. Butt, Sajid Butt, Muhammad Tahir, M. Tanveer, Imran Aslam, Zulfiqar Ali

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

21 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Niobium pentoxide (Nb2O5) has attracted considerable interest owing to its potential applications. A facile surfactant and template free hydrothermal method has been adopted to synthesize novel nanoflowers of Nb2O5. The incomplete oxidation process was completed by annealing in air at 400°C for 1 h. The initial band gap value varied from 3.1 eV to 2.9 eV with a red shift of 27.5 nm. Time dependent experiments were performed to understand growth mechanism. RhB under visible light was degraded by using Nb2O5 nanoflowers before and after annealing. The photdegradation constant k: 0.89 h-1 and 2.62 h-1 were calculated, respectively. The rate constant of Nb2O5 nanoflowers after annealing was found larger than commercial Nb2O5, Commercial TiO2 Degussa P25, HTiNbO5, N-TiO2, SnNb2O6 nanosheets, Bi3NbO7 nanocomposites and C, N-codoped InOOH microspheres.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1298-1303
Number of pages6
JournalScience of Advanced Materials
Volume7
Issue number7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2015

Keywords

  • Hydrothermal
  • Nanoflowers
  • Optical properties
  • Photocatalysis
  • Semiconductor

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Novel nano-flowers of Nb2O5 by template free synthesis and enhanced photocatalytic response under visible light'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this