Co-precipitation synthesis of Ag-doped NiCr 2 O 4 nanoparticles: investigation of structural, optical, magnetic, and photocatalytic properties

In this study, NiCr 2 O 4 nanoparticles were simply prepared using solutions of nickel nitrate and CrCl 3 ·6H 2 O and various capping agents in the presence of several alkaline agents. The effects of the presence of different stabilizing and alkaline agents on the size, morphology, and photocatalytic behavior of NiCr 2 O 4 were studied by performing various studies and it was found that the nature of the stabilizing and alkaline agents greatly influence the morphology and photocatalytic activity . Further, the influences of different factors like of the nature of the pollutant, size of the NiCr 2 O 4 particles, and pH of the reaction mixture on the photocatalytic profile of the particles were also evaluated using methylene blue, rhodamine b, and methyl orange as model pollutants. The results indicated the maximum photocatalytic activity in the case of rhodamine B solutions in UV light. It was also noticed that using NiCr 2 O 4 /Ag nanostructures increased the photocatalytic activity for rhodamine b from 72 to 83 as opposed to NiCr 2 O 4 nanoparticles.