Electrospun nanofibers of cellulose acetate/metal organic framework-third generation PAMAM dendrimer for the removal of methylene blue from aqueous media

Abstract

In this research, magnetic metal–organic framework nanofibers were produced by the electrospinning method. The nanocomposite was functionalized by third generation hyperbranched poly(amidoamine) dendrimer (PAMAM) to improve its dye adsorption efficiency from aqueous media. The characteristics of the synthesized magnetic nanocomposite was determined by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) along with elemental mapping analysis and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Central composite design (CCD) based on response surface methodology (RSM) was performed to optimize the adsorption variables and the values of coefficient of determination (R2) and adjusted R2 were 0.9837 and 0.9490, respectively. The results obtained demonstrated remarkable properties of the synthesized nanofiber as adsorbent for methylene blue from aqueous solutions with the removal efficiency of 95.37% and maximum methylene blue (MB) adsorption capacity of 940.76 mg g−1 under optimized conditions. In addition, it was shown that kinetics and adsorption isotherm of the dye removal process followed Langmuir and pseudo-second-order models, respectively. Thermodynamic study of the dye removal indicated that the process was spontaneous and favorable at higher temperatures. Also, the reusability study shows favorable dye removal efficiency of 80.67% even after 4 cycles. To investigate the performance of the adsorbent for the removal of MB in real samples, a sewage sample from a local hospital was used. The result showed good efficiency of the adsorbent.