Abstract
Spinel structured CoFe2O4, have gained much importance in recent years due to their high coercivity, high Curie temperature, narrow bandgaps and, strong chemical and mechanical stability. In this work, we focus on the photocatalytic study by investigating the optical characteristics of Mg-substituted nano-crystallite CoFe2O4 with nominal compositions such as Co1-xMgxFe2O4 (x = 0.0, 0.3, 0.6, 0.9 and 1.0), prepared by sol-gel auto combustion method. As-prepared samples were then calcined at 600 degrees C for 6 h. X-ray diffraction determined a cubic spinel structure of all the samples. Microstructure observed using a scanning electron microscope revealed well-shaped, homogenously dispersed grains of almost uniform sizes. UV-Vis spectrophotometer was utilized to determine the energy band gaps of the samples. Magnetic and photocatalytic properties were discussed using vibrating sample magnetometer and a photoreactor, respectively. It has been observed that saturation magnetization and band gap values were decreased by increasing Mg concentration but at the same time enhanced the photocatalytic behaviour, with maximum activity at 60 % of Mg contents.