Abstract
The present work describes the effect of Ce3+ ion doping on the structural, morphological, and magnetic properties of spinel manganese ferrite (MnFe2O4) nanocrystallites (NCs) using various instrument techniques. Rare earth element (REE) Cerium (Ce3+) doped MnFe2O4 NCs were prepared by a simple microwave combustion technique. In the present scenario, ferrites are widely used for photocatalytic dye degradation and antibacterial applications. Aiming to achieve this, we prepared Ce3+ doped MnFe2O4 NCs by microwave combustion method and urea as burning agent and the obtained powder samples were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), high resolution scanning electron microscope (HR-SEM), high resolution transmission electron microscope (HR-TEM) and vibration sample magnetometer (VSM) techniques. The pure spinel phase formation was confirmed by XRD analysis. FTIR spectra show two prominent absorption bands under 1000 cm−1, which confirms the formation of the spinel structure. HR-SEM and HR-TEM pictures demonstrated a sphere-shaped morphology and also expose the combination and agglomeration of grains, which are mostly due to the magnetic characteristics of the samples. The magnetic properties of the synthesized MnCexFe2−xO4 (x = 0.0, 0.1, 0.3, and 0.5) NCs were studied by VSM analysis at room temperature (RT) shows ferromagnetic behavior. The photodegradation results showed that MnFe2O4 and Ce doped MnFe2O4 NCs have a higher potential to degrade methylene blue (MB) and the sample MnCe0.3Fe1.7O4 NCs showed superb photocatalytic performance (91.53%) compared to other samples. The antibacterial activities of Gram-positive S. aureus, B. subtilis and Gram-negative K. pneumonia and E. coli were investigated using pure and Ce3+ substituted MnFe2O4 NCs and a higher activity for MnCe0.3Fe1.7O4 NCs than other samples was observed, which indicated that they can be used in biomedical applications.
Highlights
Spinel ferrites (AFe2O4, where A = Ni, Cu, Mg and Zn, etc.) are a well-known family of scientific materials and have been well studied owing to their unique magnetic properties, as they are endowed with high electrical resistivity [1,2,3,4,5]
The results showed that the CNT/MgO/CuFe2O4 magnetic composite powder can be successfully used in textile wastewater treatment [26]
For the first time, we investigate the structural, morphological, and photocatalytic properties of Ce3+ doped MnFe2O4 NCs and the obtained results are reported in detail
Summary
The excellent properties of spinel ferrites are well utilized in modern technological applications. Ferrites often have a spinel structure with the formula AB2O4, where A and B are various metal cations, with iron being the most common (Fe). Spinel ferrites with a mixed structure can be possible with the formula [M1−δ2+ Feδ3+][Mδ 2+Fe2−δ3+]O4, where δ represents the degree of inversion [6,7,8,9,10]. Ferrites are hard and brittle, contain iron, are generally grey or black, and are polycrystalline materials. They can be magnetized or drawn to a magnet since they are ferrimagnetic. Spinel ferrites have vast applications in the present technological world. The main applications are precursors for ferro-fluids, radio, magnetic guided drug-delivery agents, telecommunication, biomedicine, magnetic storage, gas sensor, television, microwave, military devices, microwave absorbers, satellite communication, humidity sensors and magnetic storage [16,17]
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