Abstract
In this study, we first developed a simple synthetic route to prepare layered structure NH 4Nb 3O 8 nanobelts, and then converted NH 4Nb 3O 8 phase to single-crystal Nb 2O 5 by thermal treatment in air. The lengths of the nanobelts range from several hundreds of nanometers to several tens of micrometers, and the thickness and width of nanobelts are ∼15 and ∼60 nm, respectively. Based on the experimental results, a possible mechanism for the formation of nanobelts was proposed. Such a simple synthetic route offers great opportunities for the scale-up preparation of one-dimensional nanostructured materials. Furthermore, the synthesized Nb 2O 5 nanobelts were successfully employed, for the first time, as an electrode material in dye-sensitized solar cells using a metal-free idoline dye as a sensitizer and its photovoltaic performance of the solar cells was investigated under illumination of simulated AM 1.5 solar light (100 mW cm −2).
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