Ultradispersed cobalt ferrite nanoparticles assembled in graphene aerogel for continuous photo-fenton reaction and enhanced lithium storage performance

Abstract

The Photo-Fenton reaction is an advanced technology to eliminate organic pollutants in environmental chemistry. Moreover, the conversion rate of Fe3+ /Fe2+ and utilization rate of H2O2 are significant factors in Photo-Fenton reaction. In this work, we reported three dimensional (3D) hierarchical cobalt ferrite/graphene aerogels (CoFe2O4 /GAs) composites by the in situ growing CoFe2O4 crystal seeds on the graphene oxide (GO) followed by the hydrothermal process. The resulting CoFe2O4 /GAs composites demonstrated 3D hierarchical pore structure with mesopores (14∼18 nm), macropores (50∼125 nm), and a remarkable surface area (177.8 m2 g-1). These properties endowed this hybrid with the high and recyclable Photo-Fenton activity for methyl orange pollutant degradation. More importantly, the CoFe2O4 /GAs composites can keep high Photo-Fenton activity in a wide pH. Besides, the CoFe2O4 /GAs composites also exhibited excellent cyclic performance and good rate capability. The 3D framework can not only effectively prevent the volume expansion and aggregation of CoFe2O4 nanoparticles during the charge/discharge processes for Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), but also shorten lithium ions and electron diffusion length in 3D pathways. These results indicated a broaden application prospect of 3D-graphene based hybrids in wastewater treatment and energy storage.