Flake shaped ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles: synthesis, characterization and visible light induced photocatalytic study

Flake shaped ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles have successfully been prepared by co-precipitation method. The phase and crystallinity of the synthesised ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles were studied by XRD. The SEM result reveals that the flake shaped entities are formed by the combination of rod-shaped nanomaterial. The band gap of the synthesised ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles is found to be similar to 2.14 eV by UV-Vis DRS measurements indicating thereby that this material absorbs visible light (lambda(max) = 579.37 nm). The ferrite nanoparticles were successfully employed as a photocatalytic materials for the degradation of the dye Malachite green (MG) in aqueous medium with 99% efficiency under visible light irradiation.

Automated summary

Flake shaped ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles were successfully prepared using the co-precipitation method. XRD analysis was used to study the phase and crystallinity of the synthesized nanoparticles. SEM results showed that the flake shaped entities were formed by the combination of rod-shaped nanomaterials. UV-Vis DRS measurements indicated that the synthesized ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles had a similar band gap of 2.14 eV, allowing it to absorb visible light (lambda(max) = 579.37 nm). These ferrite nanoparticles were used as photocatalytic materials and demonstrated 99% efficiency in degrading Malachite green (MG) dye in aqueous medium under visible light irradiation.