Morphology controlled hydrothermal synthesis and photocatalytic properties of ZnFe2O4 nanostructures

• Morphology controlled hydrothermal synthesis of zinc ferrite nanostructures was carried out.
• Magnetically separable catalysts with high surface area and narrow band gaps obtained.
• Study of effect of morphology on photocatalysis was done.
• Excellent photocatalytic ability for H2O2 assisted degradation of dyes was observed.
• Photocatalytic activity depended upon surface area, band gap and morphology.

The present work is focused on studying morphology dependent catalysis of spinel ZnFe2O4 nanostructures. Different morphologies i.e. porous nanorods, nanoparticles, nanoflowers and hollow microspheres were designed hydrothermally. The as prepared nanomaterials were characterized using Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) technique and UV–visible spectrophotometer. The results confirmed formation of desired morphologies of cubic spinel ZnFe2O4 with high surface areas (92–138 m2/g) and narrow band gaps (1.76–1.97 eV). It suggested the use of ZnFe2O4 nanostructures as potential visible light photocatalysts. Therefore, the application of synthesized ZnFe2O4 nanostructures was studied in photo-Fenton degradation of dyes. The results indicated shape dependent relationship with photocatalytic activity as the degradation of dyes followed the order porous nanorods>nanoparticles>nanoflowers>hollow microspheres. The role of main active species in the reaction i.e. ∙OH was also confirmed. All the materials exhibited stability and magnetic separability hence could act as potential photo-Fenton catalysts for wastewater treatment.

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