Effect of neodymium (Nd) doping on the photocatalytic organic dye degradation performance of sol-gel synthesized CoFe2O4 self-assembled microstructures

Trivalent Neodymium doped CoFe2O4 was investigated as the potent photocatalyst for wastewater treatment. The CoFe2O4 and Nd-doped CoFe2O4 with various concentrations, such as 5, 10, and 15%, were prepared to employ the sol-gel technique. Structural characterization of the synthesized materials was done by powder X-ray Diffraction and Raman studies. The optical UV-Visible spectroscopy provides the optical properties of CoFe2O4 and Nd-doped CoFe2O4 and the XPS spectra, which identify the constituting elements with their oxidation states, confirm the incorporation of Nd into the CoFe2O4 lattice. SEM was performed to investigate their surface morphology, showing the self-assembled microstructures of CoFe2O4. The dye degradation process was inves-tigated for the synthesized samples with methylene blue dye using UV-Visible spectroscopy, which reveals the photocatalytic performance of pure CoFe2O4 and Nd doped CoFe2O4 by measuring the absorbance of methylene blue at the same interval of time. The 5% Nd doped CoFe2O4 exhibits enhanced photocatalytic activity with a degradation efficiency of 72% within 4 h, which is higher than the pure sample. Outcomes indicates that the synthesized material can be useful in wastewater treatment.