In this paper a novel and inexpensive route for the preparation of spinel magnesium aluminate nanoparticles (MgAl2O4) is proposed. Magnesium aluminate photocatalyst was synthesized via sol-gel auto combustion method using oxalic acid, urea, and citric acid fuels at 350°C. Subsequently, the burnt samples were calcined at different temperatures. The pure spinel MgAl2O4 with average crystallite size 27.7, 14.6 and 15.65nm was obtained at 800°C calcinations using the aforementioned fuels, respectively. The obtained samples were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared, UV-Vis spectroscopy, transmission electron microscope, scanning electron microscope. The photo catalytic activity of MgAl2O4 product was studied by performing the decomposition of Reactive Red Me 4BL dye under UV illumination or sunlight irradiation. The dye considerably photocatalytically degraded by 90.0% and 95.45% under UV and sunlight irradiation, respectively, within ca. 5h with pseudo first order rate constants of 5.85×10(-3) and 8.38×10(-3)min(-1), respectively.

The current study aimed to investigate the effect of counterions on hydrothermally synthesized hydrozincite (zinc hydroxide carbonate), which was thermally converted to generate ZnO nanostructures, which are an efficient nanoadsorbent for the removal of Reactive Black 5 (RB5) dye from wastewater. Hydrozincite nanospheres and flower-like structures were hydrothermally prepared using various zinc salts (sulfate, acetate, and nitrate) and ammonium carbonate in a molar ratio of 1 : 3, respectively, at 120 C for 3 h. The morphology and crystallite size of the hydrozincite precursor were effectively controlled via the parameters of the hydrothermal reaction. Interestingly, sulfate was the optimum counterion, as zinc sulfate salt produced pure hydrozincite nanospheres with the smallest crystallite size ($13.57 nm), which were consequently thermally decomposed at 400 C for 1 h to produce pure nanosized ZnO ($10 nm). The compositions of the as-synthesized products were determined by means of FT-IR, FE-SEM, HR-TEM, XRD, zeta potential, BET, and thermal analyses. An adsorption study showed a much higher adsorption capacity (80.9 mg g À1 ) of the as-prepared ZnO nanoparticles toward RB5 dye. The adsorption of RB5 dye followed pseudo-second-order kinetics. In addition, the equilibrium adsorption of RB5 dye was best described by a Langmuir isotherm model and the calculated thermodynamic parameters, DG 0 (from À4.027 to À7.533 kJ mol À1 ), DH 0 (30.798 kJ mol À1 ), and E a (29.105 kJ mol À1 ), indicate the spontaneous, endothermic, and physisorptive nature of the adsorption process.

No abstract

No abstract

We have reported herein the preparation of a pure cobalt ferrite (CoFe2O4) nanostructure, as an efficient nano-adsorbent, via a template-free hydrothermal and post thermal conversion route.