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

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 O-2 evolution from water. The production rate is approximately 314.0 mu mol 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 visible-light 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 O-2 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.