Development of a Novel Mixed Titanium, Silver Oxide Polyacrylonitrile Nanofiber as a Superior Adsorbent and its Application for MB Removal in Wastewater Treatment

• Published in: Journal of the Brazilian Chemical Society 2018-03, Vol.29 (3), p.560-571
• Main Authors: Xu, Zhiqun, Wei, Congcong, Jin, Jiali, Xu, Wenkai, Wu, Qiao, Gu, Junjie, Ou, Minrui, Xu, Xiaoping
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: CHEMISTRY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY
• ISSN: 0103-5053; 1678-4790; 1678-4790
• DOI: 10.21577/0103-5053.20170168

In this study, a novel electrospun nanofibrous composite was synthesized from polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and well-dispersed oxide nanoparticles containing Ti and Ag (PAN-TA). The nanoparticles incorporated into the nanofibers can endow the composite with photocatalytic and antimicrobial ability. The morphologies and structure of the nanofibers were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Controlled experiments were carried out with the effects of chemical modification, solution pH, temperature, dosage, contact time, and initial concentration of the dye. The methylene blue (MB) dye was completely removed within 20 min at room temperature 25 ºC with high maximum retention capacity of 155.4 mg g-1. Moreover, equilibrium data and kinetics data indicated that the dye adsorption agreed well with the Langmuir isotherm model and pseudo-second order model, respectively. In addition, the nanofibers could be easily separated from dye solution and showed high reusability for numerous repeat cycles, thus indicating good application prospects for the wastewater treatment.