High mechanical performance submicron-sized Cu2O-derived necklace-shaped PAN nanofiber composite membrane towards adsorption desulfurization application

Abstract

The selective adsorption desulfurization technology is considered to be of energy conservation and environment-friendly operation. However, the ongoing development of adsorption desulfurization is greatly restricted by the adsorbents with preferable mechanical properties and sustainable separation efficiency. In this paper, a submicron-sized Cu2O necklace-shaped polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofiber composite membrane (Cu2O/PAN NFM) was prepared by electrospinning technology. The structure and mechanical properties of NFM were determined by a series of characterizations. The results showed that the resulting Cu2O/PAN-NFM has a larger total pore volume (0.0802 mL/g), higher tensile strength (5.65 MPa) and lower friction coefficient (0.2571) than those of PAN nanofiber membrane (PAN NFM). The static and dynamic adsorption performances of the Cu2O/PAN NFM were investigated with thiophene(TH) simulated oil. The results showed that the static and dynamic saturated adsorption capacities of the Cu2O/PAN NFM were up to 32.91 mg/g and 4.57 mg/g at 500 mg/L initial concentration, respectively. Besides, the adsorption kinetics and isotherms of TH on the Cu2O/PAN NFM indicated that the TH adsorption data are fitting to Avrami model and Liu isotherm. In addition, the exclusive notable merits of the Cu2O/PAN NFM expressed at the robust mechanical properties and outstanding separation efficiency while keeping the sustainable adsorption capacity after the repeated recycling, which exhibited a promising application towards adsorption desulfurization.