Facile synthesis of sheet-like Fe/C nanocomposites by a combustion-based method

Sheet-like Fe/C nanocomposites have been successfully synthesized by a facile combustion-based method with two simple steps. First, a sheet-like precursor consisting of evenly mixed amorphous iron oxide and carbon was prepared through solution combustion synthesis by using ferric nitrate as an iron source and an oxidizer, glycine as a fuel and glucose as a carbon source. Subsequently, sheet-like Fe/C nanocomposites were synthesized via hydrogen reduction of the as-prepared precursor at 400 degrees C. The obtained Fe/C nanocomposites are composed of iron nanoparticles and amorphous carbon and the iron nanoparticles are homogenously embedded into the sheet-like carbon support. With the reduction time increasing from 2 h to 4 h, the saturation magnetization of the Fe/C nanocomposites reduced at 400 degrees C increases from 145.7 emu/g to 188.4 emu/g, whereas the coercivity decreases from 428.1 Oe to 90.4 Oe. The Fe/C nanocomposites reduced at 400 degrees C for 2 h have homogenous nanocomposite structure, well-dispersed iron nanoparticles with the size of similar to 20 nm and high specific surface area of 274.9 m(2)/g, which make this low-cost material a highly promising candidate for potential applications in water treatment, environmental remediation, absorption and catalysis. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.