Fabrication of porous chitosan membranes composed of nanofibers by low temperature thermally induced phase separation, and their adsorption behavior for Cu2

Wang Qin; Jixiang Li; Jianbing Tu; Hongqin Yang; Qinhui Chen; Haiqing Liu

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2017.09.051

Fabrication of porous chitosan membranes composed of nanofibers by low temperature thermally induced phase separation, and their adsorption behavior for Cu²

Carbohydr Polym. 2017 Dec 15:178:338-346. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2017.09.051. Epub 2017 Sep 18.

Authors

Wang Qin¹, Jixiang Li¹, Jianbing Tu¹, Hongqin Yang², Qinhui Chen³, Haiqing Liu⁴

Affiliations

¹ Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials, College of Material Science and Engineering, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350007, China.
² Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Science and Technology for Medicine of Ministry of Education, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350007, China.
³ Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials, College of Material Science and Engineering, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350007, China. Electronic address: chenqh@fjnu.edu.cn.
⁴ Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials, College of Material Science and Engineering, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350007, China. Electronic address: haiqing.liu@gmail.com.

PMID: 29050602
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2017.09.051

Abstract

Low temperature thermally induced phase separation (LT-TIPS) of chitosan solution was developed to fabricate porous chitosan membranes (p-CSMs), which were composed of short nanofibers with diameter of 40-60nm. Compared to the conventional acetic acid/water solvent, a mixed solvent of acetic acid/ethanol/water was used to prepare chitosan solution. The effect of solvent composition, quenching temperature and time, and coagulant on the p-CSM morphology were systematically explored. The optimum conditions for fabricating p-CSM was to quench 2% chitosan/2% acetic acid in water/ethanol (70/30) at -20°C for 12h, followed by coagulating in 1% Na₂CO₃ in water/ethanol (50/50). The p-CSM was an effective adsorbent for Cu²⁺ and had a Langmuir adsorption capacity of 2.57mmol/g, which is close to the adsorption capacity of natural and electrospun chitosan nanofibers. The p-CSM maintained 90% adsorption efficiency for Cu²⁺ even after six cycles.

Keywords: Adsorption; Chitosan; Heavy metal cations; Nanofibers; Porous material.

MeSH terms

Adsorption
Chitosan / chemistry*
Kinetics
Membranes, Artificial*
Nanofibers*
Temperature

Substances

Membranes, Artificial
Chitosan