Effect of Ni/Zn ratio on structural, optical, magnetic, and photocatalytic properties of co-precipitated NixZn1-xFe2O4 nanocomposites

IF 4.6 3区材料科学 Q2 MATERIALS SCIENCE, MULTIDISCIPLINARY

Materials Science and Engineering: B Pub Date : 2025-09-20 DOI:10.1016/j.mseb.2025.118791

Irfan Toqeer, Muhammad Afzaal, Hassan Raza

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Spinel ferrites are promising for the photocatalytic remediation of heavy metals. We synthesized nickel-zinc ferrite

N i_{x} Z n_{1 - x} F e_{2} O_{4} (x = 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1)

nanocomposites via co-precipitation to degrade hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) under visible light. Systematically increasing the Ni/Zn ratio simultaneously enhanced magnetic and optical properties. Saturation magnetization increased from 28 to 65 emu/g, enabling easy catalyst recovery. Simultaneously, the optical band gap was narrowed from 2.05 eV (for

Z n {F e}_{2} O_{4}

) to 1.55 eV (for

N i {F e}_{2} O_{4}

), improving visible-light absorption. This led to a dramatic improvement in photocatalytic performance, with Cr(VI) degradation increasing from 35 % to 82 % in 120 min. The optimized

N i {F e}_{2} O_{4}

catalyst also demonstrated excellent stability and reusability over five cycles. These findings show that cation ratio engineering is an effective strategy for developing high-performance, magnetically separable photocatalysts for water treatment.

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Ni/Zn比对共沉淀NixZn1-xFe2O4纳米复合材料结构、光学、磁性和光催化性能的影响

尖晶石铁氧体在重金属光催化修复中具有广阔的应用前景。采用共沉淀法合成镍锌铁氧体NixZn1-xFe2O4x=0,0.25,0.5,0.75,1纳米复合材料，在可见光下降解六价铬（Cr(VI)）。系统地提高Ni/Zn比，同时增强了磁性和光学性能。饱和磁化强度从28 emu/g增加到65 emu/g，使催化剂易于回收。同时，光学带隙从2.05 eV （ZnFe2O4）缩小到1.55 eV (NiFe2O4)，提高了可见光吸收。这导致光催化性能的显著改善，在120分钟内Cr（VI）的降解从35%增加到82%。优化后的NiFe2O4催化剂在5次循环中表现出优异的稳定性和可重复使用性。这些发现表明，阳离子比工程是开发高性能、磁可分离水处理光催化剂的有效策略。

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来源期刊

Materials Science and Engineering: B 工程技术-材料科学：综合

CiteScore

5.60

自引率

2.80%

发文量

481

审稿时长

3.5 months

期刊介绍： The journal provides an international medium for the publication of theoretical and experimental studies and reviews related to the electronic, electrochemical, ionic, magnetic, optical, and biosensing properties of solid state materials in bulk, thin film and particulate forms. Papers dealing with synthesis, processing, characterization, structure, physical properties and computational aspects of nano-crystalline, crystalline, amorphous and glassy forms of ceramics, semiconductors, layered insertion compounds, low-dimensional compounds and systems, fast-ion conductors, polymers and dielectrics are viewed as suitable for publication. Articles focused on nano-structured aspects of these advanced solid-state materials will also be considered suitable.