Spray drying as feasible processing technique to enhance the photocatalytic activity of the Nb2O5/carbon xerogel composite

This work aimed to study the effect of the spray drying technique on the morphological, structural, optical and photocatalytic properties of the Nb2O5/carbon xerogel composite. The results obtained show that the spray drying technique causes a significant change in the morphology of the composites, resulting in spherical and uniform particles. Structurally wise, the composite produced using spray drying has the hexagonal structure of the niobium oxide, whereas the material produced using evaporative drying has an amorphous structure. The optical properties of the composite were also affected, as the bandgap energy of the spray dried material is lower than the one obtained for the composite obtained through evaporative drying. The spray dried material presented superior adsorption capacity and photocatalytic efficiency, indicating that the modifications introduced by the spray drying are suitable to enhance the photocatalytic efficiency of the Nb2O5/carbon xerogel composite. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.