Abstract
Mixed oxides and ferrites nanoparticles (NPs) have shown a considerable potential in environmental applications of purifying wastewater from heavy metal by adsorption. In this paper, ZnOFe2O3 powders mixture were mechanical milled followed by annealing at 500, 600 and 700 degrees C. X-ray diffraction characterization confirmed the phase composition and showed crystal growth from 7 to 11nm due to annealing. Scanning electron microscope revealed agglomerated and spherical particles that increased in size with same trend as XRD results. These nanopowders exhibited a ferromagnetic behavior with varying magnetization and coercivity, the saturation magnetization was found to decrease from 1.45 to 0.09emu/g with increasing annealing temperature. This was explained due to phase transition and the allocation of A and B atoms in the tetrahedral and octahedral sites in ferrites as a result of annealing. Moreover, BET surface calculations showed an un-patterned pore size distribution with a maximum surface area of 1.84 m(2)/g obtained after annealing at 500 degrees C. This sample also demonstrated the highest adsorption capacity at 49.42, 54.69 and 12.34mg/g for heavy metals ions of nickel, cadmium and chromium, respectively.