Cu2+ doped nickel spinel ferrites (CuxNi1−xFe2O4) nanoparticles loaded on CNTs for degradation of crystal violet dye and antibacterial activity studies

Abstract

In the current work, Cu-doped Nickel ferrites (CuxNi1−xFe2O4) integrated on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were synthesized by wet-chemical method. The synthesized composite CuxNi1−xFe2O4/CNTs along with pristine NiFe2O4 and CuxNi1−xFe2O4 were characterized by X-rays diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). XRD data confirmed the synthesis of NiFe2O4 and CuxNi1−xFe2O4 with tetragonal lattice structure. The crystallite size varied from 26 to 35 nm with the substitution of Cu+2 ions in NiFe2O4 while CuxNi1−xFe2O4/CNTs showed moderate crystallite size of 32 nm. SEM analysis showed spherical nanoparticles of CuxNi1−xFe2O4 which transformed to aggregated blocks on combining with high surfaced CNTs. The conductivity of pure NiFe2O4 raised up to 0.028 and 0.22 S/m upon modification to CuxNi1−xFe2O4 and CuxNi1−xFe2O4/CNTs, respectively. CuxNi1−xFe2O4/CNTs showed maximum degradation efficiency (92.9%) for CV, which was 1.4 and 1.8 folds higher than NiFe2O4 and CuxNi1−xFe2O4, respectively.

Keywords

• mixed spinel ferrites
• carbon nanotubes
• photocatalysis
• solar light
• crystal violet