Structural, Morphological, Optical and Magnetic Studies of Ce3+ Doped Zinc Spinel Nanoferrites for Photocatalytic Application
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Abstract
The present paper reports the effects of cerium (Ce) doping on structural, morphological, optical and magnetic properties of ZnCexFe2-XO4 ferrites nanoparticles (NPs) prepared via Microwave assisted sol gel technique. The crystalline structure, surface morphology, chemical composition, optical and magnetic features were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Energy dispersive X-ray (EDAX), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), UV–visible (UV–vis) spectroscopy and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) individually. XRD patterns reveals the existence of single-phase cubic spinel structure with Fd-3m space group. Crystallite size of nanoferrites was calculated using Debye Sherrer formula, which was found to be in the range of 40-28nm. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy study showed the Fe-O stretching vibration in the range of (400-700) cm-1, confirming the formation of metal oxide. The change in optical band gap from 1.8 eV to 1.85 eV is due to increased concentration of Ce content. Magnetic hysteresis (M−H) loops of samples were studied to determine saturation magnetization (Ms.), remnant magnetization (Mr.), Coercivity (Hc) values to study the magnetic nature of ferrite nanoparticles. The Photocatalytic activity against methylene blue is found to have 71% efficiency for (x=0.04) Ce doped ZnCexFe2-XO4. The synthesized samples are excellent photocatalytic agent against MB and are applicable in water treatment.
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