Biofuel-assisted synthesis of barium hexaferrite nanoparticles: magnetic properties characterizations and pyridoxin sensing

Abstract

This study reports the synthesis of barium hexaferrite (BaFe₁₂O₁₉) nanoparticles using sol–gel method with biofuels including D-galactose, L-arabinose, and starch from potato. The synthesized powders were calcined at 800 °C and 900 °C for 2 h to ensure the formation of the M-type hexaferrite phase. Thermal properties were analyzed using thermogravimetric and differential thermal analysis (TGA-DTA). X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirmed crystallite sizes overall ranging from 16 to 83 nm, with average sizes of 45.6 nm for D-galactose, 47 nm for L-arabinose, and 34.3 nm for potato starch at 800 °C respectively. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy identified metal-oxide bonds in the 430–590 cm⁻¹ range. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDAX) provided hexagonal structure and compositional details. Vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) measurements indicated hard magnetic properties of D-galactose-fueled sample with saturation magnetization of 30 emu g⁻¹, remanence of 17 emu g⁻¹, and coercivity of 5563 Oe. On the other hand, this biofuel-based approach offered potential application using BHF for pyridoxine (Py) sensing. In electrochemical studies, the sensing of Py involved one electron-one proton transfer reaction in BHF. The SWV study resulted with good detection limit of 960 nM and linear range 1–100 µM. The prepared sample showed good sensitivity, reproducibilitym and stability, which could be used for real-time applications in the future.