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Facile synthesis of magnetic ZnFe2O4–reduced graphene oxide hybrid and its photo-Fenton-like behavior under visible iradiation

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Abstract

A magnetic ZnFe2O4–reduced graphene oxide (rGO) hybrid was successfully developed as a heterogeneous catalyst for photo-Fenton-like decolorization of various dyes using peroxymonosulfate (PMS) as an oxidant under visible light irradiation. Through an in situ chemical deposition and reduction, ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles (NPs) with an average size of 23.7 nm were anchored uniformly on rGO sheets to form a ZnFe2O4–rGO hybrid. The catalytic activities in oxidative decomposition of organic dyes were evaluated. The reaction kinetics, effect of ion species and strength, catalytic stability, degradation mechanism, as well as the roles of ZnFe2O4 and graphene were also studied. ZnFe2O4–rGO showed to be a promising photocatalyst with magnetism for the oxidative degradation of aqueous organic pollutants and simple separation. The combination of ZnFe2O4 NPs with graphene sheets leads to a much higher catalytic activity than pure ZnFe2O4. Graphene acted as not only a support and stabilizer for ZnFe2O4 to prevent them from aggregation, largely improving the charge separation in the hybrid material, but also a catalyst for activating PMS to produce sulfate radicals at the same time. The ZnFe2O4–rGO hybrid exhibited stable performance without losing activity after five successive runs.

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Acknowledgments

The support by the Anhui Provincial Natural Science Foundation (No. 1308085MB21), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant 51372062), Technology Foundation for Selected Overseas Chinese Scholar of Anhui Province (NO. 2013AHST0415), the State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering (NO. KL13-12), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (NO. 2012HGQC0010), and the Project Sponsored by the Scientific Research Foundation for the Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars, State Education Ministry are gratefully acknowledged. The support from Australian Research Council for DP110103699 is also acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Anhui Key Laboratory of Controllable Chemical Reaction and Material Chemical Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Tunxi Road 193, Hefei, 230009, China

    Yunjin Yao, Jiacheng Qin, Yunmu Cai, Fengyu Wei & Fang Lu

  2. State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University of Technology, Nanjing, 210009, China

    Yunjin Yao

  3. Department of Chemical Engineering, Curtin University, G.P.O. Box U1987, Perth, WA, 6845, Australia

    Shaobin Wang

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  1. Yunjin Yao
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  2. Jiacheng Qin
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  3. Yunmu Cai
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  4. Fengyu Wei
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  5. Fang Lu
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  6. Shaobin Wang
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Correspondence to Yunjin Yao or Shaobin Wang.

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Yao, Y., Qin, J., Cai, Y. et al. Facile synthesis of magnetic ZnFe2O4–reduced graphene oxide hybrid and its photo-Fenton-like behavior under visible iradiation. Environ Sci Pollut Res 21, 7296–7306 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-2645-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-2645-x

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