Physical study of cobalt ferrite and its application in purification of water

The purpose of this work to find the effect of magnetic material on adsorption of heavy metal cations (Cr6+, Cd2+ and Cu2+). Consequently, hexagonal cobalt ferrite (CoFe2O4) was prepared simply by flash method followed by calcination. The prepared sample was characterized using X-ray diffraction and FTIR which revealed the structure of nanoferrite. Field emission scanning electron microscopy and EDX explore the hexagonal-shaped product. The obtained results from surface area analysis (BET) showed that cobalt ferrite has large surface area (71.564 m(2)/g). The magnetic properties were studied by VSM and Faraday's method from which the sample acts as ferromagnetic material with large value of saturation magnetization (66.380 emu/g). Electrical properties such as conductivity and activation energy were studied using LCR bridge; the data confirmed semiconductor behavior of sample. The sample under investigation exhibited very good adsorption efficiency for heavy metal cation (Cr6+, Cd2+ and Cu2+) from wastewater. The maximum adsorption appeared for Cd6+ at pH 6 and contact time 8 h.