Electrospun ZnFe2O4/Al: ZnFe2O4 nanofibers for degradation of RhB via visible light photocatalysis and photo-Fenton processes

Pure zinc ferrite, ZnFe2O4 and aluminum-doped zinc ferrite, Al: ZnFe2O4 (0.5% Al) nanofibers were prepared by the combination of electrospinning and calcination at different temperatures. X-ray diffraction reveals their cubic spinel structure, belonging to space group Fd-3 m (227). As the calcination temperature increases from 500 to 700 °C, the crystallite sizes of ZnFe2O4 andAl: ZnFe2O4 nanofibers respectively increase from 20 to 31 nm and from 18 to 30 nm. It is also observed that the crystallite sizes decrease with Al doping at all temperatures. The maximum magnetization of the samples, measured by vibrating sample magnetometer, was found to increase from 3.1533 to 7.9871 emu/g, 2.4102 to 8.0380 emu/g and 2.2038 to 2.9057 emu/g at 500 °C, 600 °C and 700 °C respectively, due to Al doping. The photocatalytic activity, as measured by RhB degradation, is found to improve with Al doping and by introduction of H2O2 oxidant in photo-Fenton process.