Ultralong Hydroxyapatite Nanowire-Based Filter Paper for High-Performance Water Purification.

Abstract

A new kind of environmentally friendly filter paper based on ultralong hydroxyapatite nanowires (HAPNWs) and cellulose fibers (CFs) with excellent filtration and adsorption properties has been developed for the application in high-performance water purification. The use of polyamidoamine-epichlorohydrin (PAE) resin increases the wet mechanical strength of the as-prepared HAPNW/CF filter paper. The addition of CFs enhances the mechanical strength of the HAPNW/CF filter paper. Owing to the porous structure and superhydrophilicity of the as-prepared HAPNW/CF filter paper, the pure water flux is as high as 287.28 L m-2 h-1 bar-1 under cross-flow conditions, which is about 3200 times higher than that of the cellulose fiber paper with addition of PAE. More importantly, the as-prepared HAPNW/CF filter paper shows superior performance in the removal of TiO2 nanoparticles (>98.61%) and bacteria (up to 100%) in water by the size exclusion and blocking effect. In addition, the HAPNW/CF filter paper also exhibits high adsorption capacities for methyl blue (273.97 mg g-1) and Pb2+ ions (508.16 mg g-1). The adsorption mechanism of the HAPNW/CF filter paper is investigated. The as-prepared environmentally friendly HAPNW/CF filter paper with both excellent filtration and adsorption properties has promising application in high-performance water purification to tackle the worldwide water scarcity problem.