Preparation and characterization of lithium niobate as a novel photocatalyst in hydrogen generation

Several chemical compounds based lithium niobate have been tested in the reaction for the photocatalytic hydrogen generation. The photocatalysts have been prepared by impregnation of Nb₂O₅ in the aqueous solution of lithium hydroxide and then the calcination at the temperature range of 400-650 °C. In this report, we present the interesting study showing that the most active catalyst for the photocatalytic generation of hydrogen is the one containing two lithium niobate phases such as LiNbO₃ and LiNb₃O₈. It means that the lithium niobates based catalyst without any further modification or doping can be applied as a novel material for this process.