Hydrothermal route for the synthesis of manganese ferrite nanoparticles and photocatalytic activity evaluation for the degradation of methylene blue dye

Abstract

Abstract Manganese ferrite (MnFe2O4) was prepared via hydrothermal route and characterized by advanced techniques. The photocatalytic activity (PCA) was evaluated by degrading methylene blue (MB) dye under UV irradiation. The effect of process variables such as catalyst dose, UV exposure time and pH was studied for maximum degradation of dye at optimum conditions. The MnFe2O4 showed face centered cubic structure and average particle size of 23.98 nm. The lattice constant, lattice strain, ionic radii (rA & rB), bonding angles and hoping lengths of MnFe2O4 were recorded to be 0.8467 nm, 0.08, 1.66, 0.766, 1.833 and 2.116 Å, respectively. The MnFe2O4 showed promising PCA and at optimum conditions of process variable, up to 99% MB dye degradation was achieved. The PCA was found dependent to catalyst dose, UV exposure time and pH. Results revealed that the hydrothermal rout is feasible route for the preparation of MnFe2O4 ferrite in nano size and the PCA revealed the potential application of MnFe2O4 ferrite to degrade dye in textile wastewater.