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.