Synthesis, characterization and photocatalytic activity of NaNbO3/ZnO heterojunction photocatalysts

A series of NaNbO3/ZnO heteronanostructures were synthesized with the hydrothermal method. Various characterization methods such as X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electronic microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDS), transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS) and diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS) were employed to investigate the structure, morphology and photocatalytic properties. The photocatalytic activity of the catalysts was evaluated by the degradation of methylene blue dye and the highest photocatalytic efficiency was observed when the content of NaNbO3 was 10 wt.%. The photocatalytic mechanism of the heterojunction was also discussed. The effective transformation of the photoexcited electron and holes restricted the recombination of charges, which was regarded as the main reason of the high photocatalytic activity.

► There was no report to investigate the photocatalytic activity of NaNbO3/ZnO heterojunction.
► The relationship between the photocatalytic activity and the structural features of the prepared catalysts was investigated through a systematic characterization analysis.
► The possible photocatalytic mechanism was proposed.