Evaluation of structural, magnetic and catalytic properties of Sn incorporated spinel nanoferrites

Current study deals with the generation of Sn based nanostructures with inherent magnetic character as efficient catalyst for the reductive transformation of nitroarenes to corresponding amines. In this context, Sn incorporated spinel nanoferrites- CoSn_xFe_2−xO₄ and NiSn_xFe_2−xO₄; x = 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4 have been synthesized via most facile sol-gel methodology. The knowledge of successful incorporation of Sn in to the lattice of spinel nanoferrites (without the formation of any impurity), have been acquired from the shift in the band positions in the FT-IR spectra and shift in the peak positions observed in the powder X-ray diffraction patterns. The saturation magnetization has been found to decrease with successive Sn inclusion which confirmed the octahedral site preference of Sn. With the incorporation of Sn in to the lattice of CoFe₂O₄ and NiFe₂O₄ drastic improvement in the catalytic performance has been observed in comparison to undoped nanoferrites.