Barium niobium phosphate compounds (BaNb 2 P 2 O 11 and Ba 3 Nb 2 P 4 O 18 ), with corner-sharing NbO 6 octahedra as well as PO 4 tetrahedra, were prepared by a conventional solidstate reaction method, and their optical properties, electronic band structure, and photocatalytic activity were investigated. The powders were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), field-emission SEM (FESEM), high-resolution TEM (HRTEM), and UV/Vis and fluorescence spectroscopy. Both compounds exhibit similar optical band gaps, 3.55 eV for BaNb 2 P 2 O 11 and 3.58 eV for Ba 3 Nb 2 P 4 O 18 . However, photoluminescence spectra revealed that a radiative recombina-