Abstract
Herein, a series of CoFe2-xTlxO4 (0.03 <= x <= 0.15) nanoceramics were prepared via a meso-2,3-dimercaptosuccinic acid assisted solvothermal route. The influence of a thallium ion dopant on the structural, magnetoptical, electrical, and photocatalytic characteristics has been scrutinized. The X-ray diffraction demonstrated that CoFe2-xTlxO4 nanoceramics have a cubic structure at all Tl ions concentrations. The Raman scattering spectroscopy revealed the reshuffling of the iron cation between the tetrahedral and octahedral sites of the structure of ferrite due to the substitution with Tl ions. The magnetic properties showed an increase of the saturation magnetization from 59.5 emu/g to 67.4 emu/g and an increase of the coercive field from 344.2 Gauss to 583.1 Gauss with increasing the amount of Tl cations. The optical band gap decreases with the increase of Tl ion concentration. The activation energy decreases from 0.44 eV to 0.26 eV with increasing the Tl ion con-centration. These unique physical properties gave rise to the outstanding capability of the as-synthesized CoFe2-xTlxO4 nanoceramics for the photocatalytic production of hydrogen fuel.