Photocatalytic properties of NaNbO3 and Na0.6Ag0.4NbO3 synthesized by polymerized complex method

NaNbO3 and Na0.6Ag0.4NbO3 powders were prepared by a polymerized complex method and investigated for the photocatalytic water splitting and gaseous organic compound decomposition, respectively. The photocatalytic activity of NaNbO3 for splitting water varied with the average nanocrystallite size. When the nanocrystallite size increases to about 60 nm, the ability is lost due to the heavy volume charge–carrier recombination. Among the NaNbO3–AgNbO3 solid solutions, Na0.6Ag0.4NbO3 shows the highest activity under fluorescence light irradiation. The effect of starting materials on photocatalytic activity of Na0.6Ag0.4NbO3 was investigated. The single-phase samples could be obtained at 700 °C and the sample prepared from the C-containing oxides shows the higher activity in comparison with that from the N-containing oxides due to the more effective charge separation.