Morphology-tunable ultrafine metal oxide nanostructures uniformly grown on graphene and their applications in the photo-Fenton system

Hybrid nanostructures of low-dimensional metal oxide (MO) semiconductors based on two-dimensional (2D) graphene nanosheets have been considered as one of the most promising nanomaterials for an extensive variety of applications. Unfortunately, it is still challenging to rationally design and fabricate MO/graphene hybrids with highly controllable nanostructures and desirable properties, which are of paramount importance for practical applications. Here, we report a novel, facile and green glycerol-mediated self-assembly method, using alpha-Fe2O3 semiconductor as an illustrative example, for the controlled growth of MO with a well-defined nanostructure on 2D graphene nanosheets. Based on this new method, we first demonstrate the ability to exquisitely tune the alpha-Fe2O3 nanostructure from zero-dimensional quantum dots (similar to 3.2 nm) to one-dimensional mesoporous nanorods, and eventually to 2D mesoporous nanosheets over the entire surface of graphene nanosheets. A possible formation mechanism has been proposed based on the systematic investigation of the morphological evolution and growth processes of alpha-Fe2O3 on graphene. The as-synthesized samples exhibit excellent performance for the photo-Fenton treatment of polluted water at neutral pH under visible light irradiation. Moreover, TiO2 and Fe3O4 quantum dots (similar to 5.2 and 3.3 nm, respectively) ultradispersed on graphene are also successfully synthesized by this method, demonstrating its versatility for the rational fabrication of novel MO/graphene hybrids with huge potential applications.