Nickel and cobalt ferrites nanoparticles: synthesis, study of magnetic properties and their use as magnetic adsorbent for removing lead(II) ion

Abstract

Nano-sized nickel ferrite (NiFe2O4) and cobalt ferrite particles (CoFe2O4) were successfully synthesized using a hydrothermal method. Techniques of X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, Fourier transform infrared spectrometer, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, vibrating sample magnetometer and transmission electron microscope have been used to characterize and study the as-synthesized NiFe2O4 and CoFe2O4 products. The results showed that the average size of the nickel and cobalt ferrite nanoparticles is smaller than 10 and 100 nm, respectively. The results of magnetic measurement showed that the synthesized NiFe2O4 and CoFe2O4 nanoparticles were superparamagnetic and soft ferromagnetic materials, respectively. Study of adsorption behavior showed that these nanoparticles can act as a good adsorbent for removing Pb2+.