Synthesis and properties of magnetic fluorescent bi-functional graphene oxide-based nanocomposites

Abstract

A type of graphene oxide-based nanocomposite ((Fe₃O₄–ZnO QDs)@SiO₂–GO nanocomposite) was synthesized via an amidation process by introducing mesoporous Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles and ZnO quantum dots onto the surface of GO. The structure characterization, optical properties, and magnetic properties of such nanocomposites were systematically studied by FT-IR and PL emission spectroscopy as well as AFM, VSM, TEM and SEM examination. The results show that the graphene oxide-based nanocomposite has high surface area, superparamagnetic properties and tunable fluorescence. Additionally, methylene blue was chosen as a model substance to investigate the loading capacity of this nanocomposite. The loading experiments indicate that such a nanocomposite has a loading capacity up to 1175.8 mg g⁻¹, implying that this bi-functional graphene oxide-based nanocomposite is likely to find applications in some challenging fields such as drug carriers.