Facile synthesis of magnetically separable reduced graphene oxide/magnetite/silver nanocomposites with enhanced catalytic activity

Abstract

In this study, the combination of magnetite (Fe3O4) with reduced graphene oxide (RGO) generates a new hybrid substrate for the dispersion of noble metal nanoparticles. Well-dispersed silver (Ag) nanoparticles loaded on the surface of Fe3O4 modified RGO are achieved by an efficient two-step approach. Through reducing Ag+ ions, highly dispersed Ag nanoparticles are in-situ formed on the RGO/Fe3O4 substrate. It is found that the existence of Fe3O4 nanocrystals can significantly improve the dispersity and decrease the particle size of the in-situ formed Ag nanoparticles. Magnetic study reveals that the as-prepared RGO/Fe3O4/Ag ternary nanocomposites display room-temperature superparamagnetic behavior. The catalytic properties of the RGO/Fe3O4/Ag ternary nanocomposites were evaluated with the reduction of 4-nitrophenol into 4-aminophenol as a model reaction. The as-synthesized RGO/Fe3O4/Ag ternary catalysts exhibit excellent catalytic stability and much higher catalytic activity than the corresponding RGO/Ag catalyst. Moreover, the RGO/Fe3O4/Ag catalysts can be easily magnetically separated for reuse. This study further demonstrates that nanoparticles modified graphene can act as an effective hybrid substrate for the synthesis of multi-component and multifunctional graphene-based composites.