Optimizing Structural, Optical, Photocatalytic Properties of Cadmium Substituted Al Nano Chromites Synthesized at Low Temperature

In this work, the fabrication of cadmium doped Al nano chromites was performed by citrate gel auto combustion method to optimize its structural, morphological, optical and photocatalytic properties. The formed cadmium doped Al nanostructured chromites [Al1-xCdxCr2O4 where x = 0.00, 0.04 and 0.10] were characterized by X-ray diffraction, FESEM and FTIR techniques. The XRD confirms the single-phase cubic spinel structure of the Cd-Al nanochromites. The average crystalline size of the samples varies from 19 nm to 25 nm calculated by Debye-Scherrer’s equation from X-ray diffraction pattern. FTIR spectrum confirm the metal oxygen bonds around 400 to 600 cm–1 related to the spinel structure. The optical band gap energy ranges from 2.21 eV to 2.90 eV as calculated by Tauc plots. The photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue and acid red dyes under visible light irradiation were performed.