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Microwave-assisted synthesis of Nb2O5 for photocatalytic application of nanopowders and thin films

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Abstract

A new rapid and energy saving method for the obtention of high performance nanoparticles and thin films of Nb2O5 by microwave-assisted hydrothermal synthesis is reported. The hydrothermal treatment of a sol–gel precursor solution in a microwave oven at 180 °C for 20 min was enough to obtain amorphous nanoparticles with average sizes of 40 nm. The calcination promotes the formation of different phases of Nb2O5 (TT and T) with pseudohexagonal and orthorhombic structure, respectively, that transform at higher temperatures in a mixture of orthorhombic and monoclinic phases. Crystalline phase composition was found to have a significant influence on the photocatalytic activity. The best photocatalytic performance was observed for the material mainly constituted by the TT-Nb2O5 phase. Thin films constituted by the TT phase were prepared by dip-coating. Photocatalytic experiments confirmed the high photocatalytic activity of this material, which showed a kinetic curve similar to that of a reference TiO2-P25 thin film.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was supported by Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (Government of Spain) and FEDER Funds under the Grant no. MAT2015-67586-C3-2-R and CTM2015-69246-R. The authors thank the resources provided by CAPES under the International Cooperation Program Science without Borders for Special Guest Researcher, PVE (MEC/MCTI/CAPES/CNPQ/FAP/71/2013), Project No. A011/2013.

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Author notes

  1. Mario Borlaf

    Present address: Empa, Laboratory for High Performance Ceramics, 8600, Dübendorf, Switzerland

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, 88040-900, SC, Brazil

    Gilberto Falk, Mario Borlaf & João Batista Rodrigues Neto

  2. Department of Chemical and Environmental Technology, Rey Juan Carlos University, Móstoles, 28933, Madrid, Spain

    María José López-Muñoz

  3. Institute of Ceramics and Glass, CSIC, Madrid, 28049, Spain

    Juan Carlos Fariñas & Rodrigo Moreno

Authors
  1. Gilberto Falk
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  2. Mario Borlaf
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  4. Juan Carlos Fariñas
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  5. João Batista Rodrigues Neto
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  6. Rodrigo Moreno
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Correspondence to Rodrigo Moreno.

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Falk, G., Borlaf, M., López-Muñoz, M.J. et al. Microwave-assisted synthesis of Nb2O5 for photocatalytic application of nanopowders and thin films. Journal of Materials Research 32, 3271–3278 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2017.93

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2017.93

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