Green synthesis of dual-spinneret electrospun polyacrylonitrile–ZnO@β-cyclodextrin–chitosan nanofibrous nanocomposite as a novel nano-biosorbent

Abstract

A significant range of intriguing nanomaterials includes photocatalytic and antibacterial nanocomposites, which exhibit great efficacy in water treatment. In this work, Euphorbia hebecarpa extract was used as a novel natural reducing agent to investigate the environmentally friendly production of ZnO@β-cyclodextrin (CD) nanoparticles (NPs). In the following, polyacrylonitrile, ZnO@β-CD and chitosan nanofibers were electrospun concurrently using a dual-electrospinning process to create a unique nano-biosorbent made of polyacrylonitrile (PAN)–ZnO@β-CD–chitosan (CS) nanofibrous nanocomposite. Additionally, this nanocomposite’s effectiveness as a novel photocatalyst and antibacterial agent for eliminating organic dyes like methylene blue was evaluated. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy (RS) were used to analyze the structure of the nanocomposite. The outcomes verified the production of ZnO@β-CD, which had evenly shaped particles with an average size of 45 nm on the nanofibrous matrix. This nanocomposite exhibited removal efficiency of methylene blue of ~90% after 105 min at pH 7 and 2.5 g L−1 nanocomposite concentration. Furthermore, an antibacterial test revealed that PAN–ZnO@β-CD–CS nanofibrous nanocomposite with 6% ZnO showed over 80% reduction in colony-forming units per millilitre against Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus epidermidis and Streptococcus iniae.