Abstract
Iron oxide nanostructures (IONs) in combination with graphene or its derivatives—e.g., graphene oxide and reduced graphene oxide—hold great promise toward engineering of efficient nanocomposites for enhancing the performance of advanced devices in many applicative fields. Due to the peculiar electrical and electrocatalytic properties displayed by composite structures in nanoscale dimensions, increasing efforts have been directed in recent years toward tailoring the properties of IONs-graphene based nanocomposites for developing more efficient electrochemical sensors. In the present feature paper, we first reviewed the various routes for synthesizing IONs-graphene nanostructures, highlighting advantages, disadvantages and the key synthesis parameters for each method. Then, a comprehensive discussion is presented in the case of application of IONs-graphene based composites in electrochemical sensors for the determination of various kinds of (bio)chemical substances.
Highlights
In nanoscale domain, materials often exhibit chemical and physical properties which cannot be observed neither in bulk nor in atom counterparts
Fast electron hopping between the Fe2+ and Fe3+ ions at the octahedral sites brings about high conductivity of Fe3O4 insofar as magnetite can be considered as half metal [20]
iron oxide nanostructures (IONs) can be synthesized in different ways [22], here we introduce just the 4 most commonly used methods which have been extensively exploited for preparation of IONs, i.e., hydrothermal, co-precipitation, microemulsion and sol-gel methods
Summary
Materials often exhibit chemical and physical properties which cannot be observed neither in bulk nor in atom counterparts. Electrical, optical, magnetic and catalytic properties of iron based materials have been exploited for realizing many different purposes in a vast variety of research items. They have been extensively used in supercapacitors, data storage, lithium ion batteries, catalysis, drug delivery, therapeutic agents as well as water treatment [3,4]. In many cases, it was necessary to combine iron nanostructures with other materials in order to obtain nanocomposites with enhanced performance In this regard, graphene has shown a great potential to be a valuable option for synthesizing iron oxide/graphene nanocomposites. Fast electron hopping between the Fe2+ and Fe3+ ions at the octahedral sites brings about high conductivity of Fe3O4 insofar as magnetite can be considered as half metal [20]
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