Synthesis, characterization and peroxidase-like activity of ZnFe2O4

In this work, we synthesised a heterogeneous catalyst, spinel nanoferrite ZnFe2O4 by using a simple coprecipitationmethod. The phase structure and morphology of the synthesized ZnFe2O4 nanoparticle werecharacterized by FT-IR, Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electronmicroscopy (SEM). The catalytic activities of NPs were investigated with UV–visible absorption spectra.Synthesized nanoparticles showed intrinsic peroxidase and catalase activity. The kinetic studies on theoxidation of the o-phenylenediamine (OPD) as a chromogenic substrate were carried out by measuring theabsorbance of the reaction product (i.e. 2,3-diaminophenazine) at λ max= 415 nm as a function of time. Theinitial rate of the reaction is found to be dependent on both the concentration of (OPD) as well as theamount of nanocatalyst, while the concentration ratio of hydrogen peroxide to substrate is constant.