Iron nanoparticles decoration onto three-dimensional graphene for rapid and efficient degradation of azo dye

Porous three-dimensional graphene (3DG) prepared by chemical vapor deposition, was utilized as a matrix to support nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI) particles. The strategies to manipulate the morphology, distribution and size of nZVI particles on the 3DG support were demonstrated. The immobilized nZVI particles with a size of 100 nm and dense deposition were achieved. A 94.5% of orange IV azo dye was removed in 60 min using nZVI particles immobilized 3DG (3DG-Fe), whereas only 70.9% was removed by free Fe nanoparticles in aqueous solution. Meanwhile, a reaction rate with orange IV of 3DG-Fe was approximately 5-fold faster than that of free Fe nanoparticles. The effects of 3DG-Fe dosage, dye concentration, reaction pH and temperature on dye degradation were also addressed. Those results imply that both lowering pH and increasing temperature led to higher reaction efficiency and rate. The kinetic data reveal that the degradation process of orange IV dye, modeled by the pseudo-first-order kinetics, might involve adsorption and redox reaction with an activation energy of 39.2 kJ/mol.