optical and magnetic properties of novel ZnFe2O4/ZrO2 mixed metal oxide nanocomposite

The prepared ZnFe2O4/ZrO2 nanocomposite was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), and UV-Vis spectroscopy. Magnetic properties of ZnFe2O4/ZrO2 nanocomposite was discussed in temperature range of 5-300K using VSM measurement. The highest saturation magnetization (Ms) (27 emu/g) was achieved for ZnFe2O4-ZrO2 nanocomposite with (3:1) ratio with Mr and Hc values of 0.17 (emu/g) and 3.02 (Oe), respectively.Moreover, optical studies indicated that addition of narrow band gap ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles could effectively reduce the band gap and shift the excitation wavelength of the nanocomposite to visible light. Compared to pure zirconia, the spectrum of photocatalytic nanocomposites encountered a red shift with reduced band gap (to about 2.2 eV) due to the introduction of narrow band gap (1.98 eV) ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles.