Iranian Journal of Materials Science and Engineering

Up to now, lots of materials such as active carbon, iron, manganese, zirconium, and metal oxides have been widely used for removal of dyes from contaminated water. Among these, ferrite nanoparticle is an interesting magnetic material due to its moderate saturation magnetization, excellent chemical stability and mechanical hardness. Graphene, a new class of 2D carbonaceous material with atom thick layer features, has attracted much attention recently due to its high specific surface area. Reduced graphene oxide (rGO) has also been of great interest because of its unique properties, which are similar to those of graphene, such as specific surface area, making it an ideal candidate for dye removal. Thus far, few works have been carried out on the preparation of CoFe₂O₄-rGO composite and its applications in removal of contaminants from water. In this paper, CoFe₂O₄ reduced graphene oxide nanocomposite was fabricated using hydrothermal process. During the hydrothermal process, the reduction of graphene oxide and growth of CoFe₂O₄ simultaneously occurred on the carbon basal planes under the conditions generated in the hydrothermal system. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy contaminant and UV-Vis spectroscopy as the analytical method. The experimental results suggest that this material has great potential for treating Congo red contaminated water.