PbCrO4 yellow-pigment nanorods: An efficient and stable visible-light-active photocatalyst for O2 evolution and photodegradation

Abstract

Here, PbCrO4 nanorods, a commonly used and low-cost yellow pigment, was synthesized via a simple precipitation reaction and can serve as a highly efficient oxygen production and photodegradation photocatalyst. The obtained PbCrO4 nanorods exhibit excellent stability and photocatalytic performance for O2 evolution from water. The production rate is approximately 314.0 μmol h−1 g−1 under visible light, and the quantum efficiency is approximately 2.16% at 420±10 nm and 0.05% at 600±10 nm. In addition, the PbCrO4 shows good degradation performance for methylene blue, methyl blue, methyl orange and phenol under visiblelight irradiation. These results indicate that it is potential to fabricate an effective, robust PbCrO4 photocatalyst by transforming heavy-metal pollutants Pb(II) and Cr(VI) into a highly efficient O2 evolution and photodegradation material. This strategy which uses pollutant to produce clean energy and degrade contaminants is completely green and environmentally benign, and thus could be a promising way for practical environmental applications.