| Abstract Scope |
Hydrogen produced from renewable sources such as solar energy is referred to as green hydrogen. Generating hydrogen from water using semiconductor photocatalysts has gained significant interest due to its potential to mitigate the energy crisis and environmental degradation. MF₂O₄ spinel ferrites are widely studied for energy conversion applications, including fuel cells and photoelectrocatalytic water splitting. In this work, nano-spinel CaFe₂O₄ was synthesized via nitrate method for photocatalytic purposes. Its physical and optical properties were characterized using TGA-DT, XRD, FTIR, UV-visible spectroscopy, SEM-EDX, XPS, and electrochemical analyses. XRD confirmed a pure phase at 850 °C with an average particle size of 31 nm. SEM showed heterogeneous grains, while EDX verified the presence of Ca, Fe, and O. Mott-Schottky analysis revealed p-type behavior, and UV-visible spectroscopy indicated a band-gap of 1.85 eV. CaFe₂O₄ exhibited effective H₂ production, yielding 138 µmol at pH 7 and 129 µmol at pH 12 under visible light |