Super-paramagnetic nano-architecture and its tunable removal efficiency for organic pollutants

In this work, super-paramagnetic nano-architecture was designed to remove the organic pollutants effectively from the waste water. The nano-architectures are composed of super-paramagnetic Fe₃O₄ hollow spheres, conductive polymer and graphene sheets (RGO) to form binary and ternary nano-architectures. They could be magnetically separated and well-distributed into wastewater again for recycle use. Due to the special function of PPy shell, the binary Fe₃O₄@PPy core-shell structure exhibits pH-responsive removal efficiency for organic pollutants. Assembling the Fe₃O₄@PPy core-shell material with RGO sheets could largely improve their surface area, pore volume, and enhance their chemical stability in acid and alkaline solution. Therefore, the Fe₃O₄@PPy@RGO ternary nano-adsorbents could show favorable and robust removal performance for organic pollutants no matter in neutral, acidic and alkaline environment.