Co-precipitation of zinc ferrite nanoparticles in the presence and absence of polyvinyl alcohol with other constant parameters and the analysis of polyvinyl alcohol mediated zinc ferrite nanoparticles

In the present study, a less explored morphology controlling synthesis technique - coprecipitation was used in the synthesis of zinc ferrite nanoparticles. Zinc ferrite nanoparticles were synthesized in the presence and absence polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) mediation by maintaining the other parameters constant. The crystallite size, determined by X-ray diffraction technique was greater for PVA mediated zinc ferrite (67 nm) compared to the zinc ferrite synthesized in the absence of PVA (52 nm). The morphology of the samples was analyzed using scanning electron microscopy technique. The use of PVA as surfactant resulted in reduced agglomeration, refined morphology, smaller particle size and hence high surface to volume ratio of the zinc ferrite nanoparticles. The PVA mediated zinc ferrite was further characterized. The optical, magnetic, photocatalytic and antibacterial properties of the sample were determined. The sample had a narrow optical bandgap energy of 1.98 eV. It exhibited ferrimagnetic behaviour suggesting the formation of mixed spinel structured zinc ferrite with zinc and oxygen vacancies. Photocatalytic efficiency of the sample was determined by degrading methylene blue in the presence of sunlight and halogen lamp. The antibacterial activity of the sample was studied against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus.