Morphology-tunable ultrafine metal oxide nanostructures uniformly grown on graphene and their applications in the photo-Fenton system

Abstract

Hybrid nanostructures of low-dimensional metal oxide (MO) semiconductors based on two-dimensional (2D) graphene nanosheets have been considered as one of the most promising nanomaterials for an extensive variety of applications. Unfortunately, it is still challenging to rationally design and fabricate MO/graphene hybrids with highly controllable nanostructures and desirable properties, which are of paramount importance for practical applications. Here, we report a novel, facile and “green” glycerol-mediated self-assembly method, using α-Fe₂O₃ semiconductor as an illustrative example, for the controlled growth of MO with a well-defined nanostructure on 2D graphene nanosheets. Based on this new method, we first demonstrate the ability to exquisitely tune the α-Fe₂O₃ nanostructure from zero-dimensional quantum dots (∼3.2 nm) to one-dimensional mesoporous nanorods, and eventually to 2D mesoporous nanosheets over the entire surface of graphene nanosheets. A possible formation mechanism has been proposed based on the systematic investigation of the morphological evolution and growth processes of α-Fe₂O₃ on graphene. The as-synthesized samples exhibit excellent performance for the photo-Fenton treatment of polluted water at neutral pH under visible light irradiation. Moreover, TiO₂ and Fe₃O₄ quantum dots (∼5.2 and 3.3 nm, respectively) ultradispersed on graphene are also successfully synthesized by this method, demonstrating its versatility for the rational fabrication of novel MO/graphene hybrids with huge potential applications.