Synthesis and characterization of Gd-doped PbMoO_4 nanoparticles used for UV-light-driven photocatalysis

Gd-doped PbMoO₄ nanoparticles were prepared by a refluxing method at 80 °C for 2 h. Effect of molar content of Gd dopant on phase, morphology and optical properties was studied. The as-prepared Gd-doped PbMoO₄ samples can be indexed to pure tetragonal PbMoO₄ phase. The particles size of PbMoO₄ is decreased with increasing in the molar content of Gd dopant from 15.20 ± 3.04 nm for pure PbMoO₄ to 8.72 ± 1.53 nm for 5 mol% Gd-doped PbMoO₄. The absorption of 5 mol% Gd-doped PbMoO₄ nanoparticles shows red-shift caused by lattice distortion of PbMoO₄. The photocatalytic performance of 5 mol% Gd-doped PbMoO₄ nanoparticles shows the highest degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) of 97.92% under UV radiation and 67.65% under visible radiation because Gd³⁺ dopant as an electron acceptor plays the role in enhancing the separation of electron–hole pair.