Facile and reliable route for synthesis of zinc ferrite nanoparticles and its application in photo-degradation of methyl orange

In this work, we have successfully prepared zinc ferrite (ZnFe 2 O 4 ) nanoparticles through a facile and reliable route by of zinc (II) nitrate, iron (III) nitrate, and lactose as starting materials in water as solvent. Besides, three carbohydrate such as glucose, lactose and starch were introduce as capping agents and their effects on the morphology and particle size of ZnFe 2 O 4 were investigated. It was found that size and morphology could be easily realized by changing the type of carbohydrate. XRD, SEM, EDS, and UV–Vis spectroscopy were employed to characterize structural, morphological, and optical properties of ZnFe 2 O 4 nanoparticles. The magnetic properties of as-prepared zinc ferrite nanoparticles were also investigated with vibrating sample magnetometer. Furthermore, the photocatalysis results reveal that the decolorization of 65 % for methyl orange occurred with ZnFe 2 O 4 samples in 70 min under ultraviolet (UV) light irradiation.