Facile Construction Engineering of Pr₆O₁₁@C with Efficient Photocatalytic Activity

In this study, facile construction engineering of Pr₆O₁₁@C with efficient photocatalytic activity was established. Taking advantage of the flocculation of Pr³⁺ in the base medium, acid red 14 (AR14) was flocculated together with Pr(OH)₃ precipitate, in which Pr(OH)₃ and AR14 mixed highly uniformly. Calcinated at high temperature in N2, a novel Pr₆O₁₁@C was successfully synthesized. The resulting materials were characterized by XRD, SEM, FT-IR, Raman, and XPS techniques. The results show that the cubic Pr₆O₁₁@C with Fm3m space group, similar to that of Pr₆O₁₁, was obtained. From the results of the photodegradation of AR14, it is found that the photocatalytic efficiency of Pr₆O₁₁@C is higher than that of pure Pr₆O₁₁ due to the formation of abundant carbon bonds and oxygen vacancies. Compared with pure Pr₆O₁₁ and other carbon-based composites, the acid resistance of Pr₆O₁₁@C is greatly improved due to the highly uniform dispersion of Pr₆O₁₁ and C, which lays a solid foundation for the practical application of Pr₆O₁₁@C. Moreover, the role of NH3·H₂O and NaOH used as precipitants for the photocatalytic efficiency of Pr₆O₁₁ was investigated in detail.