Synthesis and Photocatalytic Activities of NaNbO₃ Rods Modified by In₂O₃ Nanoparticles

Abstract

NaNbO3 rods modified by In2O3 nanoparticles (In2O3/NaNbO3) were successfully synthesized by an improved coprecipitation method, and they were found to be advantageous for photocatalytic H2 evolution under visible light irradiation and pure water splitting under ultraviolet light irradiation. The composites were characterized by X-ray diffraction, UV−vis diffuse reflectance spectrometry, Brunauer−Emmett−Teller measurement, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive spectrometry, and transmission electron microscopy. With use of the electrochemical and valence band X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis, the improvement of the photocatalytic activity was attributed to the promoted transportation of photoexcited holes in the composite.