Light Absorption Properties and Electronic Band Structures of Lead-Vanadium Oxyhalide Apatites Pb5 (VO4 )3 X (X=F, Cl, Br, I).

The Pb-V oxyhalide apatite compounds Pb5 (VO4 )3 X (X=F, Cl, Br, I) were successfully synthesized using a facile solution method and studied with respect to their structural/optical characteristics and electronic band structures. UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, electrochemical analysis and first-principles calculations showed that the synthesized apatites behaved as n-type semiconductors, with absorption bands in the UV-visible region that could be assigned to electron transitions from the valence band to a conduction band formed by hybridized V 3d and Pb 6p orbitals. Among the apatites examined, Pb5 (VO4 )3 I had the smallest band gap of 2.7 eV, due to an obvious contribution of I 5p orbitals to the valence band maximum. Based on its visible light absorption capability, Pb5 (VO4 )3 I generated a continuous anodic photocurrent under visible light (λ>420 nm) in a solution of 0.1 m NaI in acetonitrile.