Activated carbon-decorated electrospun polystyrene fibers for highly efficient removal of hazardous crystal violet dye from water

Abstract

This study focuses on the synthesis of activated carbon (AC) from pomegranate peels biowaste and successful incorporation into polystyrene fibers (PSFs) by electrospinning process, yielding composite electrospun fiber membrane known as AC-PSFs. To gain insights into the characteristics of the fabricated electrospun fiber composite, a comprehensive characterization was conducted. To verify the role of AC in enhancing adsorption performance of PSFs to remove cationic crystal violet dye (CV) from aqueous solutions, batch adsorption technique was used. Notably, the AC-PSFs composite, containing 10% of AC, exhibited 465% high adsorption capacity compared to neat PSFs. The maximum Langmuir adsorption capacities obtained for CV dye was 65.14, 67.16 and 71.28 mg/g for PSFs and 388, 394.61 and 402.78 mg/g for AC-PSFs, at a temperature of 298, 303, and 308 K, respectively. The adsorption of CV dye onto PSFs and AC-PSFs closely followed the Langmuir isotherm model, while the kinetic adsorption fitted well with PSO model. AC-PSFs is a highly reusable adsorbent, retaining a 99% removal efficiency after using it for ten consecutive cycles, exemplifying its significant potential for long-term applications. Furthermore, the fabricated AC-PSFs composite offers the advantages of facile fabrication, excellent reusability, and easy handle, thereby establishing itself as a promising adsorbent for the efficient removal of cationic dyes from polluted water.