Novel Fe3O4/HNT@rGO composite via a facile co-precipitation method for the removal of contaminants from aqueous system

Abstract

In this study, a novel series of ternary composites of halloysite nanotubes (HNT), Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles (NP), and graphene oxide (GO) was prepared via a facile co-precipitation process. After the simple heat treatment process, the Fe₃O₄/HNT@GO composite was converted to the Fe₃O₄/HNT@rGO composite (FHGC), which was investigated as a potential adsorbent for the removal of contaminants from water. This series of designed ternary systems FHGC-n (n = 1, 2, 3) was identified by SEM, TEM, HRTEM, FT-IR, powder XRD, Raman and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses. As anticipated, for both the simulated organic contaminant species (RhB) and the inorganic contaminant species (As(V) ions) in water, the multifunctional FHGC exhibited good adsorption performance and easy separation. In each case of the FHGC series, the adsorption process for As(V) ions was less than 30 min, which is close to the best example in literature.