An easy and novel approach for the decoration of graphene oxide by Fe3O4 nanoparticles

A new and relatively general route was developed to fabricate graphene oxide (GO)-Fe3O4 hybrid. X-ray diffraction, transmission electron morphology, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and energy-dispersive spectrum were used to demonstrate the successful attachment of iron oxide nanoparticles to GO sheets. Transmission electron microscopy observation indicates that the size of the Fe3O4 nanoparticles was about 2.7 nm with narrow size distribution. Moreover, this hybrid shows superparamagnetic property and allows the rapid separation under an external-magnetic field. In addition, the method could be extended to further development of graphene-based nanoelectronics.

Graphical abstractA simple and tunable approach for the decoration of graphene oxide by magnetite nanoparticles is reported.Download full-size imageResearch highlights► A new and relatively general route was developed to fabricate graphene oxide (GO)-Fe3O4 hybrid. ► The highly water-soluble magnetite colloidal nanocrystals coated GO by reacting with the GO functionalized with COCl groups. ► The as-synthesized GO-Fe3O4 hybrid was investigated in detail using various techniques.