Electrospun polyacrylonitrile/cellulose acetate/MIL-125/TiO2 composite nanofibers as an efficient photocatalyst and anticancer drug delivery system

Abstract

In the present study, the various amounts of MIL-125-NH2 metal organic framework (MOF)/TiO2 nanocomposite were incorporated into the polyacrylonitrile (PAN)/cellulose acetate (CA) (8:2 w/w) nanofibers. The performance of MIL-125-NH2/TiO2 nanocomposite loaded-PAN/CA nanofibers was investigated for the removal of Doxorubicin HCl (DOX) and Cr(VI) during photocatalysis/adsorption method, controlled release of DOX and MCF-7 breast cancer cells death in vitro. The synthesized MIL-125-NH2 MOF, TiO2, MOF/TiO2 and MOF/TiO2 loaded-nanofibers were characterized using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared, transmission electron microscopy, and Brunaure–Emmet–Teller analysis. The effect of MOF to TiO2 weight ratio, MOF/TiO2 content, pH, contact time, catalyst dosage, and initial concentrations of DOX and Cr(VI) solutions was evaluated on the photocatalytic removal of DOX molecules and Cr(VI) ions from aqueous solutions. The maximum monolayer adsorption capacity of synthesized PAN/CA//MIL-125-NH2/TiO2 nanofibers was found to be 244.5 and 273.3 mg g−1 for DOX and Cr(VI) sorption, respectively. The reusability of nanofibers was also examined after five runs. The sustained release of DOX from PAN/CA/MIL-125-NH2/TiO2 was obtained during 7 days. The maximum MCF-7 cells death percentage was found to be 68% in the presence of PAN/CA/MIL-125-NH2/TiO2 nanofibers.