Facile Synthesis of High Performance Iron Oxide/Carbon Nanocatalysts Derived from the Calcination of Ferrocenium for the Decomposition of Methylene Blue

Iron oxide/carbon nanocatalysts were successfully synthesized by the calcination of ferrocenium at high temperatures ranging from 500 to 900 °C. Then the synthesized nanocomposites were characterized by XRD (X-Ray Diffraction), TEM (Transmission Electron Microscopy), VSM (Vibrating-Sample Magnetometry), BET (Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area measurements), TGA (Thermogravimetric Analysis), XPS (X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy), EPR (Electron Paramagnetic Resonance), and CHN elemental analysis. The prepared nanocatalysts were applied for the decomposition of methylene blue as a model in wastewater treatment. It was unexpected to discover that the prepared nanocatalysts were highly active for the reaction with methylene blue in the dark even though no excess of hydrogen peroxide was added. The nanocatalyst calcined at 800 °C exhibited the rod shape with the best catalytic activity. The nanocatalysts could be reused for 12 times without the significant loss of the catalytic activity.