Characterization and enhanced photocatalytic performance of nanocrystalline Ni-substituted Zn ferrites synthesized by DEA-assisted sol-gel auto-combustion method

Nanocrystalline Ni-substituted Zn ferrites with compositions of NixZn1-xFe2O4 (x = 0-1.0) were synthesized by sol-gel auto-combustion method using metal nitrate as the reactants. Diethanolamine was selected as the fuel instead of conventional fuels such as urea, citric acid, tartaric acid or glycine. Characterization of after-calcined ferrite samples were conducted in terms of crystal structure, molecular vibrations, morphology and magnetic properties through X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope and vibrating sample magnetometer analysis, respectively. The photocatalytic activities of these ferrites were studied in term of degradation of Rhodamine B under daylight-irradiation. The corresponding results indicate that nickel loading content has significant effect on physical, magnetic, optical and photocatalytic properties of the ferrite. Comparing to the undoped Zn ferrite, Ni0.6Zn0.4Fe2O4 shows the enhancement in photocatalytic activity accompanying the degradation of Rhodamine B aqueous solution up to 77 % within 4 h. The result suggests the feasibility of this material as potential sunlight-activated photocatalyst in wastewater treatment and environment cleaning applications.