title: Facile preparation of C, N co-modified Nb2O5nanoneedles with enhanced visible light photocatalytic activity.
abstract: C, N co-modified niobium pentoxide (Nb2O5) nanoneedles have been successfully synthesized via a facile hydrothermal method with Niobium Chloride (NbCl5) as a precursor and triethylamine as both the carbon and nitrogen source. The formation process of Nb2O5nanoneedles has been presented in detail by investigating the effect of the crystallization temperature, the amount of triethylamine and the calcination temperature. The as-prepared Nb2O5nanoneedles exhibit more efficient photocatalytic activity than commercial Degussa P25 and commercial Nb2O5towards photodegradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) at a concentration of 10 mg L-1under visible light. Special chemical species, such as carbonate species and NOXspecies, that exist on the surface of the as-prepared catalyst could extend the absorption into the visible region and thus enhance the photocatalytic activity of the Nb2O5nanoneedles. At the same time, the obtained Nb2O5nanoneedles exhibit excellent stability even after three successive cycles. A possible photodegradation mechanism was proposed and the corresponding photodecomposition process of RhB over the Nb2O5nanoneedles was elucidated by a reactive species trapping experiment, suggesting that h+and O2˙-play a major role in the photodegradation of RhB in aqueous solution.
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry and State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China. rwwang@jlu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jiao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry and State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China. rwwang@jlu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Runwei
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry and State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China. rwwang@jlu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Zongtao
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry and State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China. rwwang@jlu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Shilun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Qiu