Li, Lihong and Deng, Jinxia and Yu, Ranbo and Chen, Jun and Wang, Zheng and Xing, Xianran (2013) Niobium pentoxide hollow nanospheres with enhanced visible light photocatalytic activity. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 1 (38). pp. 11894-11900. ISSN 2050-7488
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 Nb 2O5 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.
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Item Type: | Article (Commonwealth Reporting Category C) |
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Refereed: | Yes |
Item Status: | Live Archive |
Additional Information: | Published version cannot be displayed due to copyright restrictions. |
Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | No Faculty |
Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | No Faculty |
Date Deposited: | 09 Oct 2017 06:39 |
Last Modified: | 09 Oct 2017 06:39 |
Uncontrolled Keywords: | high surface energy; high thermal stability; hollow nanostructures; lLarge surface area; molten salt method; structural evolution; visible light photocatalytic activity; vVisible-light irradiation; solid state physics; inorganic compounds; chemical agents and basic industrial chemicals; nanotechnology; optical communication equipment; thermodynamics |
Fields of Research (2008): | 09 Engineering > 0906 Electrical and Electronic Engineering > 090605 Photodetectors, Optical Sensors and Solar Cells 03 Chemical Sciences > 0303 Macromolecular and Materials Chemistry > 030302 Nanochemistry and Supramolecular Chemistry |
Socio-Economic Objectives (2008): | E Expanding Knowledge > 97 Expanding Knowledge > 970109 Expanding Knowledge in Engineering E Expanding Knowledge > 97 Expanding Knowledge > 970103 Expanding Knowledge in the Chemical Sciences |
Identification Number or DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1039/c3ta12599h |
URI: | http://eprints.usq.edu.au/id/eprint/31967 |
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