Structural, magnetic and electrical properties of zinc doped nickel ferrite and their application in photo catalytic degradation of methylene blue

The sol-gel process was used to synthesize zinc doped nickel ferrite ZnxNi1−xFe2O4 (x=0.0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0) to investigate the effect of Zn doping on structural, electrical and magnetic properties of Ni ferrite. The application of synthesized ferrite was also studied in the photo degradation of methylene blue. X-Ray diffraction studies confirmed the formation of cubic spinel structure for all the annealed samples. In Fourier Transform Infrared spectra, two fundamental absorption bands at ∼580 cm−1 and ∼430 cm−1; characteristic of M-O vibrations were observed. Particle size evaluated using transmission electron microscopy was found to be in the range 15-20 nm for the samples annealed at 1000 °C. The saturation magnetization increased up to x=0.4 and then it decreased, while coercivity was found to decrease with increasing Zn concentration. A continuous increase in DC electrical resistivity was observed with increasing Zn content which may be due to decrease in Fe2+-Fe3+ hopping. An increase in photo catalytic degradation of methylene blue was observed with increasing Zn doping.