The present task explains how the photocatalytic properties of the PbFeO enhanced after the doping of rare earth metal praseodymium (Pr). The PbFePrO with different dopant concentrations x = 0.00, 0.25, 0.50 were prepared by sol gel auto-combustion method and annealed at 900°C. The XRD analysis confirmed that average crystal size decreases (23–30 nm) with the increase in Pr concentration. Scanning electron microscopy was employed to determine the shape and particle size which was estimated to be 68 nm. The band gap of the samples was tuned from 3.25 to 2.49 eV after intervention of praseodymium ions in the PbFeO crystal system. Our doped samples exhibited exceptional photodegradation efficiency during the degradation of nicotine. The results revealed that Prdoped PbFeO (x = 0.50) sample degraded almost 91 % of the nicotine with a first order kinetics rate constant (k = 0.0099 min), while undoped PbFeO sample degraded just 45 % within 90 min. Quenching experiments demonstrated that superoxide and hydroxide radicals play important role in the degradation of nicotine. We deduce that praseodymium doped M type lead hexaferrite is efficient photocatalyst for nicotine removal.

中文翻译：

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Pr3+掺杂M型PbFe12O19六方铁氧体的工程增强尼古丁的光催化降解

本任务解释了掺杂稀土金属镨 (Pr) 后如何增强 PbFeO 的光催化性能。采用溶胶凝胶自燃法制备了不同掺杂浓度x=0.00、0.25、0.50的PbFePrO，并在900℃下退火。 XRD 分析证实，随着 Pr 浓度的增加，平均晶体尺寸减小（23-30 nm）。采用扫描电子显微镜测定形状和颗粒尺寸，估计为 68 nm。在 PbFeO 晶体系统中掺入镨离子后，样品的带隙从 3.25 eV 调整到 2.49 eV。我们的掺杂样品在尼古丁降解过程中表现出出色的光降解效率。结果表明，Pr 掺杂 PbFeO (x = 0.50) 样品以一级动力学速率常数 (k = 0.0099 min) 降解了近 91% 的尼古丁，而未掺杂 PbFeO 样品在 90 分钟内仅降解了 45%。猝灭实验表明，超氧自由基和氢氧自由基在尼古丁的降解中发挥着重要作用。我们推断掺镨的 M 型六角铁氧体铅是有效去除尼古丁的光催化剂。