Niobium oxide fluoride/mobium diboride (Nb3O7F/NbB2) heterostructures with urchin-like and nanowall-like morphologies were synthesized by a facile hydrothermal approach The high-density one-dimensional Nb3O7F nanoneedle arrays and two-dimensional Nb3O7F nanosheets stand on the surface of NbB2 cotes Here a new idea is proposed to synthesize binary heterostructure by in situ "incomplete reaction" Ultraviolet-visible spectra showed that such heterostructure has a wide absorption peak at around 270 nm and the absorption edge of the products synthesized at higher temperature shifts to longer wavelength because of stronger nanometric effect (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved