PREPARATION, STUDY ON STRUCTURAL CHARACTERIZATION AND PHOTOCATALYTIC DEGRADATION OF RHODAMINE B ON SPINEL CoNdxFe2-xO4 NANOPARTICLES

Abstract

The present work deals with the study of Nd-doped CoFe2O4 samples, which were prepared by a solution
combustion method. The obtained samples were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD),
scanning electronmicroscopy (SEM), transmission electronic microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform
infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), energy dispersive X-ray analysis, UV-Visible diffuse reflectance spectra
(DRS). The effect of Nd3+ ions substitution on the structural, optical and photo-Fenton activity of
CoNdxFe2−xO4 has been investigated. The addition of Nd3+ ions caused a decrease in the grain size of
ferrites, the reduction of the optical bandgap energies and thus could be well exploited for the catalytic
study. The photocatalytic activity of the synthesized CoNdxFe2-xO4 nanoparticles is investigated by using
Rhodamine B dye under visible light and presence of H2O2. The efficiency of photocatalytic activity of
cobalt ferrite increases with increase in Nd-doping. Due to effective separation and inhibition of e-
/h+
pair recombination, relatively higher photocatalytic of RhB was achieved for CoNdxFe2-xO4 (x = 0.01 ÷
0.05) when compared to CoFe2O4. The first order rate constant for CoNdxFe2-xO4 (x = 0.01 ÷ 0.05) is
faster than CoFe2O4.