Bioactivated poly (vinyl alcohol) /poly(acrylic acid) based nanofiber for high-performance membrane techniques

Abstract

Membrane techniques involve a membrane that is either a polymeric material or a liquid for the separation of a substance. Electrospun nanofibers can serve as a separation membrane as they are capable of sensing the unwanted chemical substances when bioactivated with the immobilized antibodies. This study relates to a method and a bioactive poly(vinyl alcohol)/poly(acrylic acid) based nanofiber for the separation of substances from the milk and buffer solution. Nanofiber was prepared by the electrospinning method and was bioactivated by immobilizing the related antibody. In this study, cotinine was used as a model substance to be removed. The cotinine specific bioactive nanofiber was immersed in cow's milk, breast milk, and buffer solution for 30 minutes and then removed. The cotinine removal efficiency of the bioactive nanofiber was found to be 91% in cow’s milk, 94 % in breast milk and 79 % in buffer solution. High efficiency of nanofiber in milk samples can be attributed to the blocking feature of milk that facilitates antigen-antibody binding on the nanofiber. Bioactive nanofiber captured cotinine like a magnet. The use of nanofibers for the removal of unwanted substances will provide an inexpensive method for the removal of unwanted substances from the liquid medium.