Synthesis and characterization of Nb(2)O(5)@C core-shell nanorods and Nb(2)O(5)nanorods by reacting Nb(OEt)(5)via RAPET (reaction under autogenic pressure at elevated temperatures) technique

The reaction of pentaethoxy niobate, Nb(OEt)(5), at elevated temperature (800 °C) under autogenic pressure provides a chemical route to niobium oxide nanorods coated with amorphous carbon. This synthetic approach yielded nanocrystalline particles of Nb(2)O(5)@C. As prepared Nb(2)O(5)@C core-shell nanorods is annealed under air at 500 °C for 3 h (removing the carbon coating) results in neat Nb(2)O(5)nanorods. According to the TEM measurements, the Nb(2)O(5)crystals exhibit particle sizes between 25 nm and 100 nm, and the Nb(2)O(5)crystals display rod-like shapes without any indication of an amorphous character. The optical band gap of the Nb(2)O(5)nanorods was determined by diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) and was found to be 3.8 eV.