Visible-Light-Driven Selective Oxidation of Toluene into Benzaldehyde over Nitrogen-Modified Nb2O5 Nanomeshes

Photocatalytic selective oxidation of hydrocarbons to oxygenated chemicals greatly relies on catalytic materials that show high efficiency of photogenerated holes and electrons separation and visible light absorption capacity. We, herein, report one facile calcination approach with ammonium chloride and melamine as the template to synthesize nitrogen-modified Nb2O5 nanomeshes material (Nb2O5-N), which exhibits a 37-fold reaction rate larger than its commercial counterpart in photocatalytic oxidation of toluene into benzaldehyde under visible light irradiation. The reactivity is ascribed to an extended absorption spectrum within 700 nm by nitrogen modification. In addition, photocurrent response results suggest that a relaxation effect induced by nanomesh structure is beneficial for the separation of charge carriers for enhanced reactivity. This work sheds light on regulating the structure of metal oxides and the application of nanomesh materials in photocatalytic hydrocarbon conversion.