Abstract
Exfoliated graphene oxide (GO) was reliably modified with a cetyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTAC) surfactant to greatly improve the dispersity of the GO in a polyacrylonitrile (PAN) polymer precursor solution. Subsequent electrospinning of the mixture readily resulted in the formation of GO–PAN composite nanofibers containing up to 30 wt % of GO as a filler without notable defects. The absence of common electrospinning problems associated with clogging and phase separation indicated the systematic and uniform integration of the GO within the PAN nanofibers beyond the typical limits. After thoroughly examining the formation and maximum loading efficiency of the modified GO in the PAN nanofibers, the resulting composite nanofibers were thermally treated to form membrane-type sheets. The wettability and pore properties of the composite membranes were notably improved with respect to the pristine PAN nanofiber membrane, possibly due to the reinforcing filler effect. In addition, the more GO loaded into the PAN nanofiber membranes, the higher the removal ability of the methylene blue (MB) and methyl red (MR) dyes in the aqueous system. The adsorption kinetics of a mixed dye solution were also monitored to understand how these MB and MR dyes interact differently with the composite nanofiber membranes. The simple surface modification of the fillers greatly facilitated the integration efficiency and improved the ability to control the overall physical properties of the nanofiber-based membranes, which highly impacted the removal performance of various dyes from water.
Highlights
Polymer nanofibers have been extensively fabricated to serve as novel membranes for water filtration and purification because of their large surface areas and tunable physical properties, including pore size, porosity, and wettability [1,2,3,4]
These CTAC-modified GO (cGO)–PAN composite membranes exhibited an efficient removal of dyes, and their adsorption kinetics were examined in an aqueous solution for possible use in water purification systems
The simple modification of graphene oxide (GO) with cetyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTAC) systematically allowed for the integration of GO up to 30 wt % into PAN nanofibers without electrospinning problems
Summary
Polymer nanofibers have been extensively fabricated to serve as novel membranes for water filtration and purification because of their large surface areas and tunable physical properties, including pore size, porosity, and wettability [1,2,3,4]. The structural and physical properties associated with the membranes (e.g., nanofiber diameter, wettability, pore size/porosity, tensile strength, and water flux) were thoroughly examined as a function of cGO loading These cGO–PAN composite membranes exhibited an efficient removal of dyes (e.g., pure dye and mixed dyes), and their adsorption kinetics were examined in an aqueous solution for possible use in water purification systems (e.g., the decontamination of water). The introduction of GO well beyond the typical limits into PAN nanofiber membranes without the significant destruction of the original nanofiber structures can allow for understanding how the loading of fillers into composite nanofiber membranes at high concentrations impacts the overall physical properties, and the adsorption-based removal efficiency to develop complete water purification systems
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