Highly efficient visible light driven photocatalytic activity of rare earth cerium doped zinc-manganese ferrite: Rhodamine B degradation and stability assessment

Abstract

This work exploited the simple combustion technique to prepare Ce substituted Zn–Mn ferrite nanoparticles with the formula (Zn0.5Mn0.5CexFe2-xO4, where x = 0.0, 0.02, 0.04, 0.06, 0.08, and 0.1). The results of XRD confirmed the nano-spinel crystallites with a size of 25–47 nm. FT-IR results exhibit the two ferrite characteristic bands, υ1 (∼549.49–554.49 cm−1) and υ2 (∼371.27–377.49 cm−1). All the FE-SEM micrographs demonstrated polycrystalline, brightly structured, spherical-like forms, and multigrain agglomeration particles. The nanoferrite Zn0.5Mn0.5Ce0.08Fe1.92O4 has the lowest coercivity (38.69 Oe) with moderate magnetization (36.94 emu/g), which may be suitable for soft ferrites’ applications in communication and high-frequency technology. The further doping of Ce3+ reduced the optical band gaps (from 1.84 to 1.64 eV) and improved the visible light absorption. Moreover, we assessed the photocatalytic removal of rhodamine B (RhB) by the Ce-substituted Zn–Mg soft ferrite and their magnetic characteristics. Also, the 0.08 Ce3+-doped sample photocatalyst successfully separated photogenerated carriers and had a higher RhB removal of 97.30%. For the stability test, after five cycles, the 0.08 Ce3+-doped sample photocatalyst achieved an excellent RhB removal of 96.16%, showing their remarkable stability. The facile synthesis approach, good magnetic properties, outstanding photocatalytic performance for RhB, and excellent stability suggest that Zn0.5Mn0.5Ce0.08Fe1.92O4 photocatalyst has a high potential for high-frequency applications and large-scale pollutant treatment.