Engineering of Pr3+ doped M type PbFe12O19 hexaferrites to enhance photocatalytic degradation of nicotine

The present task explains how the photocatalytic properties of the PbFe12O19 enhanced after the doping of rare earth metal praseodymium (Pr3+). The PbFe12-xPrxO19 with different dopant concentrations x = 0.00, 0.25, 0.50 were prepared by sol gel auto-combustion method and annealed at 900°C. The XRD analysis confirmed that average crystal size decreases (23–30 nm) with the increase in Pr3+ concentration. Scanning electron microscopy was employed to determine the shape and particle size which was estimated to be 68 nm. The band gap of the samples was tuned from 3.25 to 2.49 eV after intervention of praseodymium ions in the PbFe12O19 crystal system. Our doped samples exhibited exceptional photodegradation efficiency during the degradation of nicotine. The results revealed that Pr3+doped PbFe12O19 (x = 0.50) sample degraded almost 91 % of the nicotine with a first order kinetics rate constant (k = 0.0099 min−1), while undoped PbFe12O19 sample degraded just 45 % within 90 min. Quenching experiments demonstrated that superoxide and hydroxide radicals play important role in the degradation of nicotine. We deduce that praseodymium doped M type lead hexaferrite is efficient photocatalyst for nicotine removal.