Synthesis and characterization of Nb₂O₅@C core-shell nanorods and Nb₂O₅nanorods by reacting Nb(OEt)₅via RAPET (reaction under autogenic pressure at elevated temperatures) technique

Abstract

AbstractThe reaction of pentaethoxy niobate, Nb(OEt)5, at elevated temperature (800 °C) under autogenic pressure provides a chemical route to niobium oxide nanorods coated with amorphous carbon. This synthetic approach yielded nanocrystalline particles of Nb2O5@C. As prepared Nb2O5@C core-shell nanorods is annealed under air at 500 °C for 3 h (removing the carbon coating) results in neat Nb2O5nanorods. According to the TEM measurements, the Nb2O5crystals exhibit particle sizes between 25 nm and 100 nm, and the Nb2O5crystals display rod-like shapes without any indication of an amorphous character. The optical band gap of the Nb2O5nanorods was determined by diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) and was found to be 3.8 eV.

Keywords

• Niobia
• Nanoparticles
• Core-shell structure
• Diffused reflection spectroscopy