Synthesizing of Fe decorated graphene sponge for environmental applications

Abstract

In this study, we succeed to synthesis GS@Fe sponge from graphene oxide and FeCl₃ through an in-situ reduction of Fe³⁺ and GO. The structures, properties, and applications of the obtained hybrid were characterized by using XRD, SEM, and measurement of contact angles, UV-Vis spectroscopy, and FTIR analysis. The GS@Fe and bare graphene sponges are also evaluated for decolorization of methylene blue solution. Analysis the obtained experimental data showed the adsorption of methylene blue on the prepared GS@Fe sponge was more quickly than bare graphene sponge. The maximum removal percentage of GS@Fe and bare graphene sponge were about 99.8% and 9.8%, respectively, after ten days, without exposing the external UV light. The FT-IR analysis indicated some linkages of adsorbed molecules on GS@Fe were broken. It can be suggested GS@Fe degraded the adsorbed methylene blue molecules under sunlight irradiation and adsorption is not only due to the π–π interaction between graphene sheets, but also electron donner properties of Fe causes degradation of dyes. Finally, the ability of synthesized GS@Fe sponge to degrade chlorinated organic solvent was also illustrated by the turbidity variation studies.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Graphene oxide
• graphene sponge
• graphene sponge decorated by Fe nanoparticles
• adsorption
• methylene blue solution
• chlorinated organic solvent