Synthesis and Photocatalytic Study of NbC C Nanocomposites

Abstract

Transition metal carbides (TMCs) are considered as excellent compounds for cutting tool and tribological applications with extremely high hardness and thermal stability. Among all TMCs, niobium carbide (NbC) exhibits better toughness than other carbides such as TiC, ZrC and WC and is extensively used in steel industries for better mechanical properties. The present work describes the versatility of NbC as a photocatalyst for the degradation of methylene blue as an organic pollutant. In this work, the synthesis of nano NbC using different carbon precursors and its photocatalytic behavior is reported. The entire work is presented in 8 chapters which are as follows: Chapter 1 presents the current status of water pollution and the treatment of polluted water using different techniques. Among all the available processes, the role of photocatalysis to treat organic pollutants has been described in this chapter. Moreover, some of the real-time limitations of semiconductors as photocatalyst has also been discussed. Apart from this, basic introduction of TMCs along with their various applications is presented. A detailed discussion of NbC is done considering its nature of bonding and solubility dependent phase transition (NbCx, and#945;- Nb2C, and#946;- Nb2C and and#947;- Nb2C). Further, the need of nano scaled NbC for some specific applications are also discussed. Chapter 2 gives details of the available literature pertaining to the synthesis and characterization of nano-scale NbC. This chapter includes the different synthesis methods where synthesis conditions such as precursors, temperature, pressure and environment are different to get defined morphologies of nano NbC. It also describes the effect of synthesis conditions on the composition of NbCx and its mechanical, electrochemical and capacitive characteristics. Thereafter, utilization of organic waste/discarded materials as carbon source in order to obtain NbC has also been discussed.