Designing and synthesis of perovskite nanocrystals: a promising wide-spectrum solar light-responsive photocatalyst and lead ion sensor.

ABSTRACT

Perovskites are an emerging material with a variety of applications, ranging from their solar light conversion capability to their sensing efficiency. In current study, perovskite nanocrystals (PNCs) were designed using theoretical density functional theory (DFT) analysis. Moreover, the theoretically designed PNCs were fabricated and confirmed by various characterization techniques. The calculated optical bandgap from UV-Vis and fluorescence spectra were 2.15 and 2.05 eV, respectively. The average crystallite size of PNCs calculated from Scherrer equation was 15.18 nm, and point of zero charge (PZC) was obtained at pH 8. The maximum eosin B (EB) removal efficiency by PNCs was 99.56% at optimized conditions following first-order kinetics with 0.98 R2 value. The goodness of the response surface methodology (RSM) model was confirmed from analysis of variance (ANOVA), with the experimental F value (named after Ronald Fisher) of 194.66 being greater than the critical F value F0.05, 14, 14 = 2.48 and a lack of fit value of 0.0587. The Stern-Volmer equation with a larger Ksv value of 1.303710 × 10 6 for Pb2+ suggests its greater sensitivity for Pb2+ among the different metals tested.