Magnetic and Catalytic Properties of Cu x Fe1−x Fe2O4 Nanoparticles

Abstract

This study reports the simple and efficicent synthesis of copper-doped magnetite (Cu x Fe 1−x Fe 2 O 4 (x= 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, and 1.0)) magnetic recyclable nanocatalysts (MRCs) by polyol method using high purity metal acetylacetonitrates in ethyleneglycol. The products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) techniques, and their catalytic activities were followed by UV-Vis spectroscopy. XRD powder diffraction analysis proved the presence of single product for all samples. The size of the particles in the range of 7–11 nm. The effect of copper doping ratio (x) on the magnetic properties of the synthesized products was discussed with the help of variation in saturation magnetization (M s) and coercivity (H c) by vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). It was found out that the saturation magnetization of samples is decreased with increasing the copper doping ratio. On the contrary to this observation, catalytic properties of the samples are increasing with the increase of the copper doping ratio. All products presented catalytic activity for the color degradation of methyl orange in the presence of NaBH 4.