Novel thulium-doped nickel ferrite: synthesis, characterization, and its photocatalyst application

Abstract

Thulium doped nickel ferrite nanoparticles were successfully synthesized by via a novel sol–gel method with the aid of nickel (II) nitrate, iron (III) nitrate, thulium (III) nitrate and glucose without adding external surfactant. Glucose plays role as capping agent, reductant agent, and natural template in the synthesis NiFe2−xTmxO4 nanoparticles. The as-synthesized NiFe2−xTmxO4 nanoparticles were characterized by means of several techniques such as X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis and UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. The magnetic properties of as-prepared NiFe2−xTmxO4 nanoparticles were also investigated with vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). To evaluate the photocatalyst properties of nanocrystalline NiFe2−xTmxO4, the photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange (MO) under ultraviolet light irradiation was carried out.