Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-019-02455-x Lead carbonate hydroxide nanostructures: a new hydrothermal synthesis in the presence of ethylenediamine and hydrazine and investigation photocatalytic behavior Zahra Asgari Fard 1  · Azam Sobhani 2  · Rozita Monsef 3  · Masoud Salavati‑Niasari 3 Received: 9 May 2019 / Accepted: 26 October 2019 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2019 Abstract Lead carbonate hydroxide hydrate and lead oxide carbonate hydroxide nanostructures (NSs) were synthesized by hydrother- mal method in the presence of ethylenediamine (en) as surfactant, for the frst time. Alkylating the reaction mixture by en, the rate of formation of lead carbonate hydroxide NSs was accelerated. In this study, morphology, structure, and particle size of lead carbonate hydroxide NSs were controlled by adjusting amounts of hydrazine and en. The structure and morphology of the products were studied by XRD, SEM, and TEM techniques. The photocatalytic activity of lead carbonate hydroxide NSs was investigated in the presence four organic dyes. 1 Introductions Lead is a metal with many chemical and physical charac- teristics in diferent industries [1, 2]. It is used in batter- ies, alloys, and etc. Metal carbonates have extensively been studied due to their important industrial applications in pigments, plastic paints, optical glasses, ceramics, electric condensers, rubbers, papers, and also their abundance in nature [3–5]. However, the researches for transition metal carbonates, such as CdCO 3 , PbCO 3 , and MnCO 3 are rarely reported. Thus, our group is interested in developing new simple methods for the synthesis of these carbonates. A variety of methods have been reported for the fabrica- tion of PbCO 3 NSs, such as chemical conversion [6], hydro- metallurgical process [7], mechanical ball milling method [8], etc. [9, 10]. The treatment of lead dust was attempted to prepare lead carbonates via hydrometallurgical process [11]. Lu and Chen converted PbS into PbCO 3 in a dilute (NH 4 ) 2 CO 3 solution and in the presence of air [12]. Gong et al. synthesized lead carbonates from the reaction of PbSO 4 with Na 2 CO 3 solution [13]. Chen et al. investigated the kinetics and mechanism of the phase transformation from lead chloride to lead carbonate in ammonium bicarbonate solution [14]. Their results showed that a high dechlorina- tion rate of PbCl 2 . This rete increased with increasing con- centration of NH 4 HCO 3 and also temperature, and decreased moderately with the increasing total concentration of Cl − in the solution. Gao et al. studied the high-pressure structural transformations of lead carbonates to about 50 GPa at room temperature [15]. This study was investigated by employ- ing synchrotron radiation, X-ray difraction, and Raman spectroscopy. They observed three transitions at ~ 8.5, ~ 15, and ~ 26 GPa. This work is frst attempt on the synthesis of lead carbonate hydroxide NSs in the presence of en and hydrazine, via simple and fast hydrothermal approach. This approach has been regarded as one of most efective and economical routes, as it has the merits of one-step low- temperature synthesis, powder reactivity, and shape control [16, 17]. The structure, morphology, and particle size of the products were characterized with XRD, SEM, and TEM. Several parameters such as Pb:en molar ratio, reaction tem- perature, and time have been investigated on particle size and morphology of lead carbonate hydroxide NSs. Also, the infuence of en and hydrazine on the morphology of the products has been studied and a possible mechanism for * Azam Sobhani sobhani@kub.ac.ir * Masoud Salavati-Niasari salavati@kashanu.ac.ir 1 Department of Inorganic Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Kashan, Kashan, Islamic Republic of Iran 2 Department of Chemistry, Kosar University of Bojnord, Bojnord, Islamic Republic of Iran 3 Institute of Nano Science and Nano Technology, University of Kashan, Kashan, P. O. Box. 87317–51167, Islamic Republic of Iran