In this paper, we report our initial research to obtain hexagonal rod-like elongated silver tungstate (α-Ag(2)WO(4)) microcrystals by different methods [sonochemistry (SC), coprecipitation (CP), and conventional hydrothermal (CH)] and to study their cluster coordination and optical properties. These microcrystals were structurally characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Rietveld refinements, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES), and extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopies. The shape and average size of these α-Ag(2)WO(4) microcrystals were observed by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). The optical properties of these microcrystals were investigated by ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy and photoluminescence (PL) measurements. XRD patterns and Rietveld refinement data confirmed that α-Ag(2)WO(4) microcrystals have an orthorhombic structure. FT-IR spectra exhibited four IR-active modes in a range from 250 to 1000 cm(-1). XANES spectra at the W L(3)-edge showed distorted octahedral [WO(6)] clusters in the lattice, while EXAFS analyses confirmed that W atoms are coordinated by six O atoms. FE-SEM images suggest that the α-Ag(2)WO(4) microcrystals grow by aggregation and the Ostwald ripening process. PL properties of α-Ag(2)WO(4) microcrystals decrease with an increase in the optical band-gap values (3.19-3.23 eV). Finally, we observed that large hexagonal rod-like α-Ag(2)WO(4) microcrystals prepared by the SC method exhibited a major PL emission intensity relative to α-Ag(2)WO(4) microcrystals prepared by the CP and CH methods.

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A complimentary combination of experimental work and first principle calculations, based on the Density Functional Theory (DFT) method, has been used to increase our limited understanding of the enhanced photocatalytic activity of PbMoO 4 powders with predominant (111), (100), (011), and (110) facets.In this work, PbMoO 4 powders were prepared by the co-precipitation method and processed on a hydrothermal reactor at 100 o C/10 minutes. The variation of different types of modifier such as acetylacetone (acac) or polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) is found to play a crucial role in controlling the particle size and morphology of products and their photocatalytic properties.The structure and morphology of these crystals were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), micro-Raman (MR) spectroscopy, field-emission gun scanning electron microscopy (FEG-SEM), and ultraviolet visible (UV-vis) absorption spectroscopy. Furthermore, the assynthesized PbMoO 4 micro-octahedrons without presence of (001) surface exhibit enhanced activity for the photodegradation of rhodamine B (RhB) under ultraviolet-visible light irradiation.Based on the theoretical and experimental results, we provide a complete assignment of the micro-Raman spectra of PbMoO 4 , while a growth mechanism for the formation of PbMoO 4 micro-octahedrons was systematically discussed, and a schematic illustration of the probable formation of morphologies in the whole of the synthetic process was also proposed, which reveals that the high photocatalytic activity is attributed to the absence of (001) facet.

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