Solution combustion synthesis of CaFe2O4 nanocrystal as a magnetically separable photocatalyst

Abstract Magnetic CaFe 2 O 4 photocatalyst was successfully synthesized via a solution combustion synthesis (SCS) method, using glycine as the fuel. The as-prepared CaFe 2 O 4 nanoparticles had an average size of 100 nm and broad photo-absorption range. Its band gap calculated from the adsorption edge was fixed at 1.82 eV, which suggested that it could be excited by visible-light. The photo-degradation of methylene blue (MB) under visible light, demonstrated that the CaFe 2 O 4 nanocrystals exhibited high photocatalytic activity. The enhanced photocatalytic activity could be attributed to the small particle size of the CaFe 2 O 4 nanocrystals. Moreover, the product could be easily recycled from the solution by applying an external magnetic field.

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