Fabrication, characterization, and magnetic behavior of porous ZnFe2O4 hollow microspheres

Penchal Reddy Matli,Qing Huang,Xiaobing Zhou,Du Shiyu

doi:10.1007/s40089-014-0135-2

Abstract

Porous ZnFe2O4 hollow microspheres with a diameter of about 100–210 nm were successfully prepared by simple template-free hydrothermal route in ethylene glycol (EG) solution. The formation mechanism and properties have been also demonstrated. The structural, morphological, and magnetic properties of ZnFe2O4 hollow microspheres were investigated by means of X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and physical properties measurements system. The surface area was determined using the BET method. XRD and IR analyses confirm the cubic spinel phase of ZnFe2O4 hollow microspheres. Every magnetic microsphere is made up of many ultrafine ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles with porous structure. The as-prepared porous magnetic hollow spheres have higher surface area and excellent magnetic properties at room temperature.

Highlights

The ecofriendly functional nanostructures, such as transition metal oxides with spinel structure MFe2O4 (M = Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Zn, etc.) have attracted considerable attention in the recent decade because of the fundamental scientificIn recent years, hollow micro-nano-materials have attracted broad attention due to their superior properties, such as low density, large specific area, distinct magnetic property, well-defined pore topology, and more appropriate pore size ([50 nm) compared with nanocrystalline materials, and have been proven to be promising in widespread applications in microelectronics, drug delivery, catalysis, energy storage, and gas sensing [3,4,5,6]
The crystalline structure of the as-synthesized ZnFe2O4 hollow sphere was characterized by powder X-ray powder diffraction (XRD)
The general morphology of the as-prepared ZnFe2O4 hollow sphere products observed by field emission SEM (FE-SEM) and typical images at different magnifications are shown in Fig. 2a–c, it was observed that the major morphological feature is a regular spherical shape with an average particle diameter of about 100–210 nm

Summary

Introduction

Hollow micro-nano-materials have attracted broad attention due to their superior properties, such as low density, large specific area, distinct magnetic property, well-defined pore topology, and more appropriate pore size ([50 nm) compared with nanocrystalline materials, and have been proven to be promising in widespread applications in microelectronics, drug delivery, catalysis, energy storage, and gas sensing [3,4,5,6]. The main process for the preparation of hollow spheres generally requires removable templates such as monodispersed silica, polystyrene latex spheres, metal nanoparticles, gas bubbles, and polymer spheres followed by sequential adsorption of magnetic nanoparticles on the templates [13,14,15,16,17,18]. The template or surfactant direct synthesis suffers from the disadvantages of low yield and high cost; template-free methods have drawn increasing attention

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion