Electrospun Silica-Polyacrylonitrile Nanohybrids for Water Treatments

Beata Malczewska; Paweł Lochyński; Sylwia Charazińska; Andrzej Sikora; Ramin Farnood

doi:10.3390/membranes13010072

Electrospun Silica-Polyacrylonitrile Nanohybrids for Water Treatments

Membranes (Basel). 2023 Jan 6;13(1):72. doi: 10.3390/membranes13010072.

Authors

Beata Malczewska¹, Paweł Lochyński¹, Sylwia Charazińska¹, Andrzej Sikora², Ramin Farnood³

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Environmental Engineering, Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences, pl. Grunwaldzki 24, 50-365 Wroclaw, Poland.
² Department of Nanometrology, Faculty of Electronics, Photonics and Microsystems, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, 50-372 Wroclaw, Poland.
³ Department of Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, University of Toronto, 200 College St, Toronto, ON M5S 3E5, Canada.

Abstract

In this work, the removal of NOM (natural organic matter) as represented by humic acid by means of electrospun nanofiber adsorptive membranes (ENAMs) is described. Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) was used for the preparation of ENAMs incorporating silica nanoparticles as adsorbents. The addition of silica to the polymer left visible changes on the structural morphology and fibers' properties of the membrane. The membrane samples were characterized by pure water permeability, contact angle measurement, SEM, XPS, and XRD. This study assesses the preliminary performance of PAN-Si membranes for the removal of natural organic matter (NOM). The membrane rejected the humic acid, a surrogate of NOM, from 69.57% to 87.5%.

Keywords: PAN; electrospinning; nanofiber; silica.

Grants and funding

This material is partially based upon work supported by the Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry at the University of Toronto.