A Facile Route towards the Synthesis of Fe₃O₄/Graphene Oxide Nanocomposites for Environmental Applications

Abstract

A simple approach for preparing Fe₃O₄/graphene oxide (GO) nanocomposites through electrostatic self-assembly and their utilization in dye removal from aqueous media were investigated. Fe₃O₄ magnetic nanoparticles were synthesized by adding 1:2 ratio of Fe⁺²/Fe⁺³ to an aqueous solution, maintained in an inert atmosphere at a high pH. With the highly hydrophilic graphene oxide sheets and positively charged surface of the Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles, the nanocomposites were synthesized through electrostatic interaction in aqueous solutions. The nanocomposites were characterized by TEM, XRD, FT-IR, and UV-Vis. The adsorption properties of the Fe₃O₄/GO nanocomposites toward Congo Red as an anionic dye and Methylene Blue as a cationic dye in aqueous solutions were investigated.

Keywords:

• Graphene oxide
• Fe₃O₄ magnetic nanoparticle
• electrostatic self-assembly
• adsorption
• dyes

Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the grant from the Industrial Source Technology Development Program (Project No. 10035163) of the Ministry of Knowledge Economy (MKE) of Korea.