Nb2O5 composed of nano-plate particles with the width of similar to 35 nm and the length of similar to 200 nm can be readily synthesized from the nanocrystalline niobium compound intercalating ethylene glycol obtained by the solvothermal reaction of niobium ethoxide in ethylene glycol. Thus-obtained Nb2O5 nanoparticles have higher surface area and also higher catalytic activities of selective photooxidation of benzyl alcohol than Nb2O5 synthesized from Nb2O5 center dot nH(2)O. We conclude that the crystallinity and surface area of Nb2O5 are responsible to adsorption of the substrate, and the catalytic activities obviously correlate with the amount of substrate adsorbed on nanocrystalline Nb2O5. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.