Efficient Cr(VI) remediation by electrospun composite porous nanofibers incorporating biomass with metal oxides and metal-organic framework

Ronggang Luo; Ruiqi Li; Zhangzhi Zheng; Lianpeng Zhang; Linkun Xie; Chunhua Wu; Siqun Wang; Xijuan Chai; Nyuk Ling Ma; Mu Naushad; Guanben Du; Kaimeng Xu

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2024.124026

Efficient Cr(VI) remediation by electrospun composite porous nanofibers incorporating biomass with metal oxides and metal-organic framework

Environ Pollut. 2024 Apr 23:351:124026. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2024.124026. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Ronggang Luo¹, Ruiqi Li¹, Zhangzhi Zheng¹, Lianpeng Zhang¹, Linkun Xie¹, Chunhua Wu¹, Siqun Wang², Xijuan Chai¹, Nyuk Ling Ma³, Mu Naushad⁴, Guanben Du¹, Kaimeng Xu⁵

Affiliations

¹ Yunnan Provincial Key Laboratory of Wood Adhesives and Glued Products, International Joint Research Center for Biomass Materials, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming, 650224, China.
² Center for Renewable Carbon, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, 37996, USA.
³ BIOSES Research Interest Group, Faculty of Science & Marine Environment, University of Malaysia Terengganu, 21030, Malaysia; Center for Global Health Research (CGHR), Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences (SIMATS), Saveetha University, Chennai, India.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Yunnan Provincial Key Laboratory of Wood Adhesives and Glued Products, International Joint Research Center for Biomass Materials, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming, 650224, China. Electronic address: xukm007@163.com.

PMID: 38663509
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2024.124026

Abstract

To develop a highly efficient adsorbent to remediate and remove hexavalent chromium ions (Cr(VI)) from polluted water, cellulose acetate (CA) and chitosan (CS), along with metal oxides (titanium dioxide (TiO₂) and ferroferric oxide (Fe₃O₄)), and a zirconium-based metal-organic framework (UiO-66) were used to fabricate the composite porous nanofiber membranes through electrospinning. The adsorption performance, influencing factors, adsorption kinetics and isotherms of composite nanofiber membranes were comprehensively investigated. The multi-layer membrane with interpenetrating nanofibers and surface functional groups enhanced the natural physical adsorption and provided potential chemical sites. The thermal stability was improved by introducing TiO₂ and UiO-66. CA/CS/UiO-66 exhibited the highest adsorption capacity (118.81 mg g^-1) and removal rate (60.76%), which were twice higher than those of the control. The correlation coefficients (R²) of all the composite nanofibers regressed by the Langmuir model were significantly higher than those by the Freundlich model. The pseudo-first-order kinetic curve of CA/CS composite nanofibers showed the highest R² (0.973), demonstrating that the whole adsorption process involved a combination of strong physical adsorption and weak chemical adsorption by the amino groups of CS. However, the R² values of the pseudo-second-order kinetic model increased after incorporating TiO₂, Fe₃O₄, and UiO-66 into the CA/CS composite nanofiber membranes since an enhanced chemical reaction with Cr (VI) occured during the adsorption.

Keywords: Biomass; Cr (VI) adsorption; Electrospinning; Fe(3)O(4); TiO(2); UiO-66.