Issue 36, 2019

One-step synthesis of Fe2O3 nano-rod modified reduced graphene oxide composites for effective Cr(vi) removal: removal capability and mechanism

Abstract

Reduced graphene oxide (rGO) supported Fe2O3 nanorod composites were prepared via a one-step hydrothermal method and further utilized for hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) removal from aqueous environments. The composite material exhibited an excellent removal efficiency for chromium (47.28 mg L−1), which was attributed to the electrostatic attraction and chemical reduction of chromium by the material. The removal mechanism was studied by SEM, BET, XPS, and FTIR. The results demonstrated that rGO was successfully modified by Fe2O3 nanorods (approximately 50 nm wide). Compared with graphene oxide (GO), the compound was much more easily separated from the solution after completing the removal. Furthermore, XPS characterization showed that Cr(VI) could also be reduced to low-toxicity Cr(III) by hydroxyl groups. In the variables test, it was found that the removal process was pH-dependent. The results of the designed experiments for exploring the adsorption kinetics, isotherms and thermodynamics indicated that the removal process obeyed a pseudo-second-order kinetics model, Langmuir isotherm model and that it was a spontaneous exothermal process. This study provides the possibility of hydrothermal synthesis of Fe2O3/rGO for use as an excellent material to remove Cr(VI) from aqueous environments.

Graphical abstract: One-step synthesis of Fe2O3 nano-rod modified reduced graphene oxide composites for effective Cr(vi) removal: removal capability and mechanism

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
12 mar 2019
Accepted
18 jun 2019
First published
02 jul 2019
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

RSC Adv., 2019,9, 20582-20592

One-step synthesis of Fe2O3 nano-rod modified reduced graphene oxide composites for effective Cr(VI) removal: removal capability and mechanism

C. Kong, M. Li, J. Li, X. Ma, C. Feng and X. Liu, RSC Adv., 2019, 9, 20582 DOI: 10.1039/C9RA01892A

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements