Co Doped Mg–Zn Spinel Nano-ferrites as a Sustainable Magnetic Nano-photo-catalyst with Reduced Recombination for Photo Degradation of Crystal Violet.

The widespread use of organic dyes that are discharged into wastewater from many sectors continues to be a top environmental issue today. The UV–Visible light driven photocatalytic environmental purification is a highly promising field, and spinel ferrites are the prime applicant for waste water purification. In this work, pure phase cobalt doped Mg–Zn nanoferrites with a composition of Mg0.5Zn0.4Co0.1Fe2O4, Mg0.4Zn0.5Co0.1Fe2O4, and Mg0.5Zn0.5Co0.1Fe1.9O4 were fabricated using economic and facile combustion process. The prepared catalysts were caharcteriazed for structural, optical and magnetic properties. The catalyst Z5C1 exhibits 97.76% crystal violet degradation in 90 min under UV–Visible light. The superior photocatalytic efficiency of the Z5C1 catalyst is attributed to the lowest charge carrier recombination rate and moderate band gap of the catalysts. The scavenging experiments revealed the role of holes as reactive species in the catalytic degradation of crystal violet dye. The reusability investigations and simplicity of magnetic separation of the manufactured catalyst show that catalysts have the potential to degrade crystal violet dye and other organic contaminants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]