Structural studies of silica‐supported spinel magnesium ferrite nanorods for photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange.

A novel, well‐designed, silica‐supported magnesium ferrite nanorods were successfully developed at room temperature using the co‐precipitation method. The synthesized nanorods show an optical band gap of 3.1 eV, with the maximum wavelength absorptive at 334 nm. The average particle size is 36 nm with the FCC crystal structure by the X‐ray Diffraction technique (XRD). TGA achieved thermal stability of targeted mesoporous materials at 600°C. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE‐SEM) and High‐Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HR‐TEM) techniques confirm the rod‐like structure. Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) and X‐Ray Fluorescence (XRF) studies reveal the presence of all elements in the composition. The synthesized nanorods are highly magnetic by the vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) technique, which shows a high coercivity value, that is, MgFe2O4@SiO2 is photocatalytically active. From BET analysis, the surface area, pore volume, and pore diameter are 19.2 m2 g−1, 2.46 cm3 g−1, and 5.10 nm, respectively. The experimental outcomes predict that the degradation efficiency (79%) of methyl orange dye was accomplished using MgFe2O4SiO2 nanorods within 270 min. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]