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.