Surface modification of Cobalt ferrite nano-hollowspheres for inherent multiple photoluminescence and enhanced photocatalytic activities

Nano-hollow spheres (NHSs) are the new drift in magnetic nanostructures as they provide more surface area at nano length scale with enhanced magnetic properties compared to their nanoparticle counterpart. Here we reported the synthesis of biocompatible CoFe2O4 NHSs of diameter around 250 nm and emergence of intrinsic multiple photoluminescence from blue, green to red on modifying their surface with small organic ligands like tartrate. The surface modified NHSs also showed notable photocatalytic activity towards the degradation of environmentally malefic dyes like Methylene Blue and Rhodamine B. The surface modified NHSs are found to exhibit superior magnetic properties. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.