Abstract
The physical properties of porous silica nanofibers are an important factor that impacts their performance in various applications. In this study, porous silica nanofibers were produced via solution blow spinning (SBS) from a silica precursor/polymer solution. Two polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP, Mw = 360,000 and 1,300,000) were chosen as spinning aids in order to create different pore properties. The effect of their physical properties on the adsorption of methylene blue (MB) in an aqueous solution was explored. After forming, the nanofibers were calcined to remove the organic phase and create pores. The calcined nanofibers had a large amount of micro and mesopores without the use of additional surfactants. The molecular weight of the PVP impacted the growth of silica particles and consequently the pore size. High Mw PVP inhibited the growth of silica particles, resulting in a large volume of micropores. On the other hand, silica nanofibers with a high fraction of mesopores were obtained using the lower Mw PVP. These results demonstrate a simple method of producing blow spun silica nanofibers with defined variations of pore sizes by varying only the molecular weight of the PVP. In the adsorption process, the accessible mesopores improved the adsorption performance of large MB molecules.
Highlights
In recent years, silica nanofibers with a mesoporous structure have attracted considerable attention due to their high surface area, high pore volume and large pore size [1,2,3]
The adsorption isotherm parameters obtained from the linear fitting of the Langmuir and Freundlich models were evaluated in order to determine the correlation between the amount of methylene blue (MB) adsorbed onto the studied adsorbents
Each model was validated for the adsorption of dyes onto the nanofibers through the applicable fit verified using correlation coefficients (R2 ), as well as the root mean square error (RMSE) and the standard deviation SD given in Equations (11) and (12), respectively
Summary
Silica nanofibers with a mesoporous structure have attracted considerable attention due to their high surface area, high pore volume and large pore size [1,2,3] These physical properties are essential for many applications. They are efficient in producing mesopore structures in several oxide nanofibers Their use makes the process complex and more expensive, as it is still necessary to add a spinning aid (organic polymer) to achieve a spinnable solution. Studies indicate that polymer characteristics influence the physical properties of polymeric nanofibers produced by SBS [13,23]. A further objective of this study was to compare the properties of porous silica nanofiber produced by SBS from the two common grades of PVP and without the use of surfactants. The fiber properties compared included fiber morphology, physicochemical properties, specific surface area, pore structure, and dye (methylene blue) adsorption behavior
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