Photocatalytic activity under UV/Visible light range of Nb-doped titanate nanostructures synthesized with Nb oxide

• Published in: Applied surface science Vol. 415; pp. 126 - 131
• Main Authors: Byun, Jong Min, Choi, Hye Rim, Kim, Young Do, Sekino, Tohru, Kim, Se Hoon
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.09.2017
• Subjects: Doping; Hydrothermal process; Niobium; Photocatalytic activity; Titanate nanostructures; Photocatalytic activity; Hydrothermal process; Niobium; Titanate nanostructures; Doping
• ISSN: 0169-4332; 1873-5584
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2016.08.132

•Visible light responsive Nb-doped TiO2 were synthesized by hydrothermal process.•Economical and stable Nb2O5 powder was used as niobium source.•The Nb-doped TiO2 had a porous network structure.•The Nb-doped TiO2 exhibited better photocatalytic activity than of pure TiO2. In this work, using economical and stable niobium oxide (Nb2O5) powder as niobium source, visible light responsive Nb-doped titanate nanostructures were synthesized by hydrothermal process. The synthesized Nb-doped titanate nanostructures were composed of two types of titanate nanostructures (nanotubes and nanosheets) and TiO2 nanoparticles. They have a smaller band gap energy of 3.24eV compared to pure TNTs that were synthesized under the same experimental conditions. The photocatalytic activity of the synthesized Nb-doped titanate nanostructures was evaluated under visible light irradiation through the degradation of methylene blue (MB) and rhodamine B (RhB). Consequently, the synthesized Nb-doped titanate nanostructures exhibited much higher photocatalytic activity under visible light irradiation than pure TNTs. The photocatalytic activity of the synthesized Nb-doped titanate nanostructures was 1.4 times (MB) and 3.1 times (RhB) higher than of pure TNTs because the Nb-doping narrowed the band gap and it accelerated the separation of photo-induced electron-hole pairs.