Facile preparation of graphene–Fe3O4 nanocomposites for extraction of dye from aqueous solution

Abstract

A facile and fast one-pot method was developed to synthesize a magnetic graphene–Fe₃O₄ nanocomposite (G–Fe₃O₄) at low reaction temperature. The synthesized nanocomposite was characterized by transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles with average sizes of 24 nm were formed uniformly on graphene sheets. The as-prepared nanocomposite was used as an adsorbent to remove dye from wastewater using the organic dye rhodamine B as the adsorbate. The G–Fe₃O₄ nanocomposite shows excellent ability to extract organic pollutants and can be easily manipulated in a magnetic field for separation. The results suggest that G–Fe₃O₄ nanocomposites have great potential to remove organic dyes from wastewater.