Ferroelectric, dielectric, magnetic and photocatalytic properties of Mn doped Ca-hexaferrite prepared via microemulsion route

Abstract

The effect of Mn doping on CaMnxFe12-xO19 (x = 0.00, 0.10, 0.15, 0.20, 0.25, 0.30) was prepared using a microemulsion route. The properties evaluated included ferroelectric, dielectric, electric, magnetic, and photocatalytic properties. The XRD, FTIR, SEM, Raman, and UV–Vis techniques were used to characterize the samples. The XRD patterns revealed that the samples exhibited a monophasic hexagonal structure with the space group P63/mmc. Average crystallite size was in 21.16 nm–33.79 nm range and particles were randomly dispersed platelet-shaped agglomerated grains. Furthermore, as dopant concentration and frequency were increased, the dielectric loss decreased. The CaMnxFe12-xO19 shows well saturated hysteresis loops (P-E) with an enhanced saturation polarization near 28.8 × 10−4 μC cm−2. The remnant polarization of CaFe12O19 and CaMnxFe12-xO19 NPs are 1.27×10−4 μC cm−2 and 28.4×10−4 μC cm−2, respectively under a maximum electric field. The I–V properties of CaMnxFe12-xO19 were significantly influenced by the Mn concentration. The catalytic potential of the CaMnxFe12-xO19 samples was appraised against crystal violet (CV) dye degradation under visible light irradiation. The results showed that the Mn-doped samples exhibited significantly higher photocatalytic activity than pristine CaFe12O19, with a degradation rate of 90% compared to 61.53% within 100 min of irradiation. Different scavengers were employed and found that reactive •OH played a major role in dye degradation versus to e− or h+. These findings suggest that the Mn-doped material has great potential for application in photocatalytic processes to remove toxic dyes from wastewater under solar light irradiation.