Synthesis, structure and magnetic properties of graphite carbon encapsulated Fe3C nanoparticles for applications as adsorbents

Abstract

This paper reports the synthesis of graphite carbon encapsulated Fe₃C nanoparticles (Fe₃C/GC NPs). Melamine is used as a carbon source for the generation of Fe₃C, and hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) is used as a templating agent for the generation of mesoporous carbon and conversion of Fe to Fe₃C in the synthetic process. The Fe₃C/GC NPs exhibited a high saturation magnetization value (61.5 emu g⁻¹). Due to their mesoporous structure, the Fe₃C/GC NPs are employed to remove methylene blue from waste water, and they exhibited excellent adsorption properties. The current synthetic approach is versatile and scalable, and thus opens the door towards the larger-scale synthesis of mesoporous and graphite carbon-based metal materials.