Facile synthesis and unique photocatalytic property of niobium pentoxide hollow spheres and the high optoelectronic performance of their nanofilm

In this paper, monodisperse poly(styrene-co-acrylmide) (PSAM)/Nb 2 O 5 hybrid hollow spheres were synthesized using a hollowing mechanism similar to the Kirkendall effect. When these hybrid hollow spheres were calcinated at different temperatures, totally different structures, pseudohexagonal TT phase hollow Nb 2 O 5 spheres, and orthorhombic T phase short rods were obtained. Both of them exhibited stronger photocatalytic activity than the commercial Nb 2 O 5 , especially the as-obtained Nb 2 O 5 hollow spheres displayed significantly enhanced photocatalytic property and auto-accelerated photocatalytic kinetics compared to the commercial TiO 2 (P25). Moreover, the Nb 2 O 5 hollow sphere-based nanofilm fabricated using oil–water interfacial self-assembly presented excellent UV photodetective performance.