Hirshfeld surface analysis of solid-state synthesized NiFe2O4 nanocomposite and application of it for photocatalytic degradation of Water pollutant dye

The present work reports the Hirshfeld surface analysis and photocatalytic performance of NiFe2O4 nanomaterial. Hirshfeld surface analysis was performed to understand the interaction properties of the NiFe2O4 compound. The active sites including π-π interactions are studied by the analysis. The Hirshfeld data showed that the two wings in the O…O and O…Ni diagrams are created by short contacts of O…O, and O…Ni which causes O―O…π and O―Ni…. π interactions. The interactions cover the surfaces with values of 8.8% and 9.4%, respectively. Nanostructured NiFe2O4 powder was used as a photocatalyst to degrade Malachite Green (MG) waste water pollutant dye under visible light irradiation. The optimized conditions for the degradation of a 100 mL of 80 ppm MG aqueous solution are 0.03 mL H2O2, 0.038 g catalyst, and 45 min reaction time. The degradation yield at the optimized conditions under visible light irradiation was 95 %. The light source was a white color fluorescent lamp with the 40 W power and light intensity of 1.34 W/m2 measured by a digital lux meter.