Visible light responsive bismuth niobate photocatalyst: enhanced contaminant degradation and hydrogen generation

Niobate photocatalysts are of considerable interest in both contaminant degradation and H2 generation. However, the chemically inert nature limits the synthetic routes available to obtain these materials. Within this paper, single-crystalline Bi3NbO7 nanoparticles have been successfully synthesized by combining polymerized complex-assisted and hydrothermal methods. The reaction temperature was as low as 140 °C and the reaction time was only 12 h. The morphology, physical properties, and band structure of the sample was systematically investigated. The as-prepared Bi3NbO7 nanocrystallites in our experiment possessed higher photocatalytic activities in the photocatalytic degradation of both phenol and aqueous ammonia under visible-light irradiation than those of samples such as commercial Nb2O5, amorphous Nb2O5·nH2O, nitrogen-doped TiO2, P25 and Bi3NbO7 synthesized by solid solution routes. Moreover, the single-crystalline Bi3NbO7 nanoparticles were also able to efficiently evolve hydrogen from water under visible light, which provides a superior candidate for visible-light responsive photocatalysts.