Fabrication of h-BN@PbWO4 with a facile sol-gel method towards enhanced photocatalytic and radiation shielding properties

Designing versatile materials for radiation protection is of great significance to the rapid development of nuclear technology. Here, BN@PbWO4 core-shell particles are successfully prepared via a facile sol-gel method. The structure and morphology of products are determined by XRD, SEM, TEM and FTIR techniques. Compared with PbWO4 and h-BN, BN@PbWO4 exhibits much more excellent photocatalytic ability to degrade the organic dye Rhodamine B (RhB). Furthermore, it also has a good ability to jointly shield neutron and gamma radiations, especially better gamma radiation shielding in comparison with PbWO4. This work provides an integrated solution with the material that could deal with organic wastes and shield complex radiations in nuclear industry.