Catalytic behavior of magnetic Ni–Zn alloy K. Dhanapal 1 • S. Dhanavel 1 • T. A. Revathy 1 • V. Narayanan 2 • A. Stephen 1 Received: 5 October 2017 / Accepted: 1 March 2018 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V., part of Springer Nature 2018 Abstract Ni–Zn alloy with various compositions of zinc was synthesised using a sodium borohydride-assisted chemical reduction method. The as-synthesised Ni–Zn alloy samples were annealed at 673 K for 2 h in nitrogen atmosphere. The atomic absorption spectroscopy measurement reveals the zinc-rich composition in all alloy samples. Field emission scanning electron microscopy shows that the surface morphology of Ni–Zn alloys has a flake-like nature. The X-ray diffraction pattern of as-synthesised samples shows the presence of nickel hydroxide while the annealed samples show formation of Ni 2 Zn 11 phase. The phase transition temperature of as- synthesised Ni–Zn alloy was observed using differential scanning calorimetry and crystallization temperature changes with zinc composition was also examined. The room temperature magnetic behaviour of both as-synthesised and annealed samples was studied using vibrating sample magnetometer. This shows that as-synthesised samples have a weak ferromagnetic nature and annealed samples have a soft fer- romagnetic nature. The decreasing magnetization value and Curie temperature with zinc composition was observed. The catalytic activity of Ni–Zn alloy was studied for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol. The rate constant value changes with zinc composition in the alloy. Keywords Chemical reduction Á Phase transition Á Magnetic study Á Catalytic activity & A. Stephen stephen_arum@hotmail.com 1 Department of Nuclear Physics, University of Madras, Guindy Campus, Chennai 600 025, India 2 Department of Inorganic Chemistry, University of Madras, Guindy Campus, Chennai 600 025, India 123 Res Chem Intermed https://doi.org/10.1007/s11164-018-3360-x