Magnetic Fe3O4-graphene oxide/polystyrene: Fabrication and characterization of a promising nanocomposite

Our main goals in this work were to fabricate and characterize a novel magnetic composite of graphene oxide and polystyrene (NanoFe3O4@GO/PS). Fabrication was achieved through two steps. (i) A simple and effective one-pot co-precipitation of iron (II) and (III) chlorides, in the presence of graphene oxide (GO), resulted in the fabrication of the magnetite-GO hybrid-nanoparticles (NanoFe3O4@GO). (ii) Loading of the latter over polystyrene (PS) through in situ emulsion polymerization afforded the magnetic composite (NanoFe3O4@GO/PS). Besides FTIR, UV–vis, XRD, and SEM, characterizations included TEM analysis which showed Fe3O4 Nps with 14 nm size evenly spread over the GO nanosheets and NanoFe3O4@GO/PS composite. Also, the TGA analysis demonstrated the anticipated thermal stabilities for NanoFe3O4@GO and NanoFe3O4@GO/PS. The ICP-ES analysis showed a loading of 52–72 wt% of Fe3O4 Nps dispersed over GO nanosheets. Finally, improvement of PS properties by its loading with magnetite-GO hybrid was established through our preliminary VSM and DMTA analyses.

► Oxidation of graphite with H2SO4 and KMnO4 gives graphene oxide (GO).
► Coprecipitation of FeCl3 and FeCl2 on GO gives NanoFe3O4@GO hybrid-nanoparticles.
► Loading of NanoFe3O4@GO over polystyrene (PS) gives NanoFe3O4@GO/PS nanocomposite.
► NanoFe3O4@GO/PS gives magnetic utility and new applications to polystyrene.