Preparation and characterization of porous Nb2O5 nanoparticles

Porous niobium oxide (Nb2O5) nanoparticles have been successfully prepared without any surfactant assisting. They were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), nitrogen sorption, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results show that the porous Nb2O5 nanoparticles are polycrystalline, the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area is 12.09 m2/g and the average pore size is 3.4 nm. In addition, spherical and flake-like Nb2O5 samples were obtained and characterized. Possible explanations for the formation of Nb2O5 nanocrystals with different morphologies are discussed.