Structural, Optical and Photocatalytic Study of Cobalt doped Zinc Ferrite

Abstract The polycrystalline powder of Zn1-xCoxFe2O4 with a variable Co concentration ranging from 0.0 to 0.3 was created using the Sol Gel assisted auto combustion process. The powder X-ray diffraction technique was used to investigate the sample's structural phase identification. The synthesized ferrite material cubic structure with Fd3m space group was shown by X-Ray Diffraction data. The unit cell volume and lattice parameter values have changed slightly as a result of the doping of Co ions, but the crystal structure remains unchanged. In the X- Ray Diffraction data, no additional peaks are observed. In Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy(DRS) shows The band gap of Zn1-xCoxFe2O4( x = 0.0 – x = 0.3) are found to be 3.10ev, 3.07ev, 2.98ev, and 2.92ev Respectively. As Co concentration increases band gap goes on decreasing. Band gap decreases (x=0.0 to x=0.3) that leads to increasing the photocatalytic performance. In photocatalytic degradation as Co concentration increases percentage of degradation increases. The % of Degradation ~ 45% at x= 0.0 as Co concentration increases % of degradation also increases up to the ~73% at x = 0.3 Respectively. The work demonstrates the potential of co-doped zinc ferrite as a powerful photocatalyst driven by visible light.