In removal of formaldehyde with reduced graphene oxide/MnO₂ aerogel

In order to fabricate a novel formaldehyde removal material with high proformance, reduced graphene oxide (RGO)/MnO₂ aerogel was fabricated by hydrothermal method. The morphological structures and properties of RGO/MnO₂ aerogel were characterized by SEM, TEM, TGA, XPS and BET, and the removal activities of RGO/MnO₂ aerogel for formaldehyde were investigated. The results show that among the precursors of RGO/MnO₂ aerogel, graphene oxide (GO) is proved to be single-layer two-dimensional nanosheets, MnO₂ aerogel consists of MnO₂ nanowires, the diameter of MnO₂ nanowires is about 40 nm, the length reaches above 5 μm, and belongs to cryptomelane structure. RGO/MnO₂ aerogel is a material which have three-dimensional porous structure consists of flake materials, and such flake materials are made of homogeneously dispersed RGO nanosheets and MnO₂ nanowires, RGO nanosheets act as clapboards which separate MnO₂ nanowires and makes MnO₂ nanowires homogeneously dispersed in RGO. RGO/MnO₂ aerogel has favorable thermal stability under 100℃. RGO/MnO₂ aerogel possesses a preferable removal activity for formaldehyde with low concentration, the removal ratio is 62.5%, the removal rate for formaldehyde of RGO/MnO₂ aerogel under the same condition is improved by 30.0% comparing with that of MnO₂ aerogel, which proves that RGO is beneficial for enhancing the removal activity of MnO₂ for formaldehyde.