Sonochemical synthesis and characterization of lead iodide hydroxide micro/nanostructures

For the first time, micro/nano-sized lead iodide hydroxide; Pb(OH)I, has been successfully prepared via a simple ultrasonic method. In this method, lead nitrate and lithium iodide were applied as starting reagents to fabricate Pb(OH)I micro/nanostructures at different conditions. The effect of different surfactants like N,N-bis(salicylidene)-ethylenediamine (H2salen), sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), sonication time, and ultrasonic intensity on the morphology and particle size of the products has been investigated. The as-produced micro/nanostructures were characterized with the aid of XRD, SEM, TEM, UV-vis, EDS and FT-IR. According to the SEM images, different morphologies of Pb(OH)I including micro- and nano-sized rods were formed by changing the preparation conditions. Based on the XRD results, it was found that Pb(OH)I and PbI2 have been produced with and without sonication at the same conditions, respectively. The use of the H2salen and sonication treatment were confirmed to be the crucial factors determining the formation of one-dimensional Pb(OH)I micro/nanostructures.