Hydrothermal synthesis and photocatalytic property of KNb3O8 with nanometer leaf-like network

Abstract The KNb 3 O 8 photocatalyst with nanometer leaf-like network was obtained by the hydrothermal synthesis. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray diffractometer (XRD) were used to characterize the morphologies and structure of the photocatalyst. The band gap of KNb 3 O 8 crystals was estimated to be about 3.47 eV from the onset of UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectrum of the photocatalyst. The crystalline of KNb 3 O 8 catalyst prepared becomes well with increasing the hydrothermal reaction time, which markedly increases the photocatalytic activity of the catalyst. The photocatalytic degradation reaction of acid red G on the catalyst KNb 3 O 8 is a pseudo-first-order reaction. Although the surface areas of the photocatalyst prepared are much lower than that of P25-TiO 2 , its photocatalytic activity of photodegrading acid red G is much higher than that of P25-TiO 2 .