Investigations on structural, optical, and photocatalytic properties of Sm- substituted Ni-Zn ferrite nanoparticles for wastewater remediation

Investigations on structural, optical, and photocatalytic properties of Sm- substituted Ni-Zn ferrite nanoparticles for wastewater remediation | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Investigations on structural, optical, and photocatalytic properties of Sm- substituted Ni-Zn ferrite nanoparticles for wastewater remediation Shivangi Gautam, Eeshitta Mehta, Sumit Bhardwaj, Aayush Gupta, and 2 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9257299/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The sol-gel auto combustion method was successfully employed to synthesize pure and Sm doped Ni-Zn ferrite, Ni 0.5 Zn 0.5 Fe 2−x Sm x O 4 (x = 0.00, 0.02, 0.04, 0.06, and 0.08) nanoparticles, and studied their structural, optical, and photocatalytic properties. The X-ray diffraction studies confirmed the formation of a single-phase cubic spinel structure with lattice distortion, upon Sm 3+ substitution. The average crystallite size of the undoped sample was calculated and found 26.02 nm by using Debye-Scherrer equation. A decrease in crystallite size was observed upon Sm 3+ substitution due to induced lattice strain. Structural stability and effective dopant incorporation were confirmed by the distinctive tetrahedral and octahedral M-O vibrations, recorded in FTIR spectra. According to UV-visible absorption studies Sm 3+ doping resulted to a red shift in the absorption edge narrowing band gap (1.89 → 1.71 eV). As a function of increasing Sm 3+ concentration, Urbach energy has been decreased suggesting better electronic uniformity with reduced optical disorder. UV light-driven dye degradation was employed to evaluate the photocatalytic performance of the prepared ferrite samples in which Sm-doped sample with x = 0.08 composition, exhibited noticeably higher activity with maximum degradation efficiency of 98% and rate constant of 0.111 min − 1 . After consecutive five cycles, reusability studies showed good catalytic stability maintaining over 90% efficiency. These findings demonstrated the effectiveness and stability of Sm 3+ substituted Ni-Zn ferrites as UV-light active photocatalysts. Dye degradation Ni-Zn ferrite Photocatalysis XRD Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9257299","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":620977634,"identity":"8cf3681e-46d6-4570-8ad1-8bdec9fcee65","order_by":0,"name":"Shivangi Gautam","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Chandigarh University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Shivangi","middleName":"","lastName":"Gautam","suffix":""},{"id":620977635,"identity":"0d3e0d69-4027-405e-a975-d3abe0a72d9a","order_by":1,"name":"Eeshitta Mehta","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Chandigarh 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XRD","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9257299/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9257299/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThe sol-gel auto combustion method was successfully employed to synthesize pure and Sm doped Ni-Zn ferrite, Ni\u003csub\u003e0.5\u003c/sub\u003eZn\u003csub\u003e0.5\u003c/sub\u003eFe\u003csub\u003e2\u0026minus;x\u003c/sub\u003eSm\u003csub\u003ex\u003c/sub\u003eO\u003csub\u003e4\u003c/sub\u003e (x\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.00, 0.02, 0.04, 0.06, and 0.08) nanoparticles, and studied their structural, optical, and photocatalytic properties. The X-ray diffraction studies confirmed the formation of a single-phase cubic spinel structure with lattice distortion, upon Sm\u003csup\u003e3+\u003c/sup\u003e substitution. The average crystallite size of the undoped sample was calculated and found 26.02 nm by using Debye-Scherrer equation. A decrease in crystallite size was observed upon Sm\u003csup\u003e3+\u003c/sup\u003e substitution due to induced lattice strain. Structural stability and effective dopant incorporation were confirmed by the distinctive tetrahedral and octahedral M-O vibrations, recorded in FTIR spectra. According to UV-visible absorption studies Sm\u003csup\u003e3+\u003c/sup\u003e doping resulted to a red shift in the absorption edge narrowing band gap (1.89 \u0026rarr; 1.71 eV). As a function of increasing Sm\u003csup\u003e3+\u003c/sup\u003e concentration, Urbach energy has been decreased suggesting better electronic uniformity with reduced optical disorder. UV light-driven dye degradation was employed to evaluate the photocatalytic performance of the prepared ferrite samples in which Sm-doped sample with x\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.08 composition, exhibited noticeably higher activity with maximum degradation efficiency of 98% and rate constant of 0.111 min\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e. After consecutive five cycles, reusability studies showed good catalytic stability maintaining over 90% efficiency. 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