Iron Oxide Nanoparticles Wrapped in Graphene Aerogel Composite: Fabrication and Application in Electro-Fenton at a Wide pH

ABSTRACT A novel composite material of α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles wrapped in grape aerogel (α-Fe2O3/GA) was successfully fabricated and proposed for the electro-Fenton (EF) system. The α-Fe2O3/GA, which prepared by the natural drying method, presented characteristics of a porous structure of graphene sheets with α-Fe2O3nanoparticles uniformly dispersed. Efficient electro-catalytic performance was exhibited when applied to degrade Rhodamine B (RhB). The results showed that the degradation rate reached 99% after 30 min, which was about 1.1 times higher than that of graphene aerogel (GA). Meanwhile, the chemical oxygen demand (COD) elimination rates up to 82% in the reaction, and the corresponding energy consumption is 90% of that with GA. Furthermore, it's worth noting that the α-Fe2O3/GA presented low iron leaching (<,2.3 mg/l) even in an acidic medium, without significant decrease in catalytic activity after six cycles. Besides, α-Fe2O3/GA retained an efficient degradation efficiency at a wide pH range. Therefore, α-Fe2O3/GA was used as a candidate cathode material for treatment of organic wastewater by EF system.