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Saeid Azizian

Academic rank: Professor
ORCID:
Education: PhD.
ScopusId: 6701413613
HIndex:
Faculty: Faculty of Chemistry and Petroleum Sciences
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Phone:

Research

Title
Preparation of the graphene‑based smart hydrophobic nanocomposite and its application in oil/water separation
Type
JournalPaper
Keywords
graphene, hydrophobic, nanocomposite, oil-water, separation
Year
2023
Journal Scientific Reports
DOI
Researchers Mahsa Alimohammadian ، Saeid Azizian ، Beheshteh Sohrabi

Abstract

Designing and synthesizing materials with smart hydrophobicity against an external magnetic feld for efcient oil/water separation is of great importance due to the increasing problems caused by oil pollution. Here, the nanocomposites were fabricated based on graphene and diferent iron oxides exhibit smart hydrophobicity against an external magnetic feld and they are in powder form eliminating the requirement for a substrate employing a facile and echo friendly method. The results prove that autoclaving of graphene leads to its ferromagnetic property; then it is attached to iron oxides by magnetic attraction and a nanocomposite is produced. The magnetic property of the resulting nanocomposite is higher than the magnetic property of its individual components. In addition, following nanocomposite formation, its hydrophobicity and surface area also change. FESEM images were taken from the nanocomposites to study their surface morphology, and EDSMAP analysis to observe the elemental distribution uniformity of the nanocomposites. Also, to measure the surface area and pore size, BET analysis has been performed on pure materials and graphene-black iron oxide nanocomposite (graphene@black iron oxide). The results show that the specifc surface area of black iron oxide increases after being composited with graphene dispersed at 5000 rpm. Indeed, graphene forms a composite by binding to iron oxide, and therefore, its specifc surface area increases compared to iron oxide and graphene alone. These results show an increase in oil sorption and better separation of oil from water by the prepared nanocomposite. Also, to measure the magnetic properties of pure materials, graphene@black iron oxide, and ferromagnetic graphene at 3000 and 5000 rpm, the Vibrating Sample Magnetometer analysis has been performed. The results have proven that the nanocomposite powder prepared by a simple method obtained from cost-efective and available materials is hydrophobic and becomes more hydrophobic b