solvothermal -assisted cushy precipitation method of like-cauliflower zinc ferrite (znfe2o4) nanoparticles using hexamethylenetetramine (hexamine) as a non-ionic surfactant

Normal spinel zinc ferrite (znfe2o4 or zno.fe2o3) nanoparticle has been synthesized as a dark reddish brown powder using precipitation method. the solvothermal method assisted the preparation route using ethanol at 180 oc for 90 min. the non-ionic surfactant hexamethylenetetramine (hexamine) is employed as a capping agent, stabilizer and template. the xrd datum demonstrated the znfe2o4 peaks were embedded in an amorphous matrix giving broad peaks with a small mean crystal size (16.98 nm). the sem analysis revealed the znfe2o4 was found to be homogenous agglomerated like-cauliflower, with particle size 27.78 nm. the edx analysis evidence the znfe2o4 was purely prepared from zn, fe and o in wt % equal 100. the ft-ir analysis proved the znfe2o4 nanoparticle is synthesis as a normal spinel type, and found two reasonable peaks of m-o bond  in crystal lattices of znfe2o4 nanoparticle first for (fe3+ -o2-) octahedral site and the other for (zn2+- o2-) tetrahedral sits for. the band gap found to be 2.10 ev as an indirect band gap. the best dose of spinel to decolorize alkali blue 4b dye was 0.025 g/ 100 ml with efficiency 97.3 % at 30 min. the high increased in znfe2o4 dose leads to the screen effect. the photodecolorization of dye obeys to pseudo-first order, and the activation energy is found to be 47.689 kj/mol at temperature raged (15-35) oc. this photoreaction is endothermic and non-spontaneous that attributed to the raise in the solvation of the transition state between dye and hydroxyl radical.