Synthesis and characterizations of spinel MnFe2O4 nanorod by seed-hydrothermal route

Nanorod spinel MnFe2O4 was synthesized by seed-hydrothermal route (combine hydrothermal method with seed growth method). XRD, Mössbauer spectroscopy, SEM, TEM, EDX and VSM were used to investigate the characters of the MnFe2O4. The obtained ferrite exhibited a uniform nanorod shape with 25-40 nm in diameter and 300-400 nm in length. The formation of the nanorod ferrite was explained as the inducement of seed, and the temperature of synthesizing 1-D ferrite by this method was lower than that without seed. All elements distributed equably along the rod axis. The crystal structure of obtained MnFe2O4 was high symmetry and partial of spinel inversion. In addition, the as-prepared ferrite showed a high saturation magnetization (Ms = 72.45 emu g−1) at room temperature and had a high photocatalytic activity (67.18%) to Methylene blue (MB).