Fabrication of Highly Crystalline SnNb₂O₆ Shell with a Visible-Light Response on a NaNbO₃ Nanowire Core

Abstract

A visible-light-absorbing SnNb₂O₆ shell with high crystallinity was successfully fabricated on a NaNbO₃ nanowire through a molten salt treatment of the NaNbO₃ nanowire of the starting material with SnCl₂, whereas the fabrication was not successful on the TT phase of a niobia nanowire. The difference will come from the formation processes of SnNb₂O₆ crystals (ion-exchange reaction vs thermally induced crystallization reaction). The core/shell nanowire obtained from NaNbO₃ showed photocatalytic activity comparable to that of H₂ evolution in the presence of an electron donor under visible-light irradiation (λ > 420 nm), compared with the corresponding bulky counterpart