A facile synthesis of nanocrystalline CoFe2O4 embedded one-dimensional ZnO hetero-structure and its use in photocatalysis

We report herein, the synthesis of nanocrystalline CoFe2O4 embedded one-dimensional ZnO hetero-structure prepared by PEG mediated sono-chemical route. It was observed that the one-dimensional hetero-structure has an average diameter of 70 nm with maximum length up to 700 nm and exhibits photolumin escence. Band gap energy of the CoFe2O4–ZnO sample (4.5 eV) was found to be higher than the pure ZnO nanoparticles (3.3 eV). The utility of this one-dimensional CoFe2O4–ZnO hetero-structure was demonstrated for the photocatalytic degradation of phenolphthalein under UV radiation with degradation up to 89% in 1 h. The one-dimensional nanostructure also showed a high saturation magnetization of 42 emu g−1 with a coercivity of 0.05 T at room temperature which indicates the possibility of recycling of the nanostructure.

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► A CoFe2O4–ZnO magnetic nanocomposite with high band gap energy.
► Band gap energy is higher than ZnO nanoparticles.
► The nanocomposite shows high photocatalytic activity.
► It degrades phenolphthalein in aqueous solution under UV irradiation.
► Magnetic nanocomposite could be recovered using an external magnet and reused.