Facile synthesis of flower-like hierarchical N-doped Nb2O5/C nanostructures with efficient photocatalytic activity under visible light

Significant endeavors have been devoted in the past few years to establish efficient visible light-activated photocatalysts. Herein, we successfully synthesized a flower-like hierarchical nitrogen-doped and carbon-sensitized Nb2O5(NBO) nanostructure (denoted N-NBO/C). The as-prepared N-NBO/C possessed a specific surface area of 260.37 m(2)g(-1)and single wire diameter of less than 10 nm. The effect of reaction parameters such as hydrothermal reaction time, temperature and concentration of hexamethylenetetramine (Hmta) on the morphology of NBO was systematically investigated to elucidate the growth mechanism. The carbon on the surface and the nitrogen in the framework of NBO are beneficial for light harvesting, visible light absorption, formation of oxygen vacancies, and electron-hole separation. The photocatalytic performance of the as-fabricated N-NBO/C nanostructures was estimatedviathe photodegradation of 30 mg L-1RhB, where greater than 98% of RhB was decomposed within 30 min upon visible-light radiation. Hence, the obtained N-NBO/C nanostructure exhibits much higher photocatalytic activity for the decomposition of RhB upon visible light irradiation than that of pure niobium oxide (NBO), nitrogen-doped titanium oxide (N-TIO), and nitrogen-doped niobium oxide (N-NBO). This work supplies a versatile route for the synthesis of nitrogen-doped and carbon-sensitized metal-oxide nanostructures for possible utilization in solar energy transformation and environmental remediation

Surface plasmonic resonance and z-scheme charge transport synergy in three-dimensional flower-like ag-ceO2-znO heterostructures for highly improved photocatalytic CO2 reduction

The design and engineering of plasmonic metal nanocomposite photocatalysts offer an operative approach for highly efficient CO2 photoreduction. Herein, the authors report a plasmonic 3D flower-like (3DF) Ag-CeO2-ZnO nanocomposite catalyst with effective charge carrier separation/transfer and CO2 adsorption capacity exhibiting a considerable enhanced performance compared to pure ZnO and CeO2 for photocatalytic CO2 reduction to CO and CH4 under UV-vis light. The apparent quantum efficiency of the optimized sample is 4.47% at 420 nm, and the CO2 to CO selectivity reaches up to similar to 95%. The enhanced photocatalytic performance of 3DF Ag-CeO2-ZnO can be assigned to the prolonged absorption in the visible light region induced by the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect, the efficient separation of photogenerated charges, and the Z-scheme configuration. Furthermore, the photocatalyst displays excellent stability and reusability. The mechanism of the plasmon-mediated Z-scheme structure has been suggested in which Ag NPs act as both visible light absorber and electron mediator