Fabrication and Characterization of Electrospun Nanofiber Adsorbents from Agricultural Waste for Remediation of Heavy Metals

Abstract

The present study was carried out to fabricate electrospun nanofibers using Poly(and#949;-caprolactone) (PCL) synthetic polymer, chitosan (CS) natural polymers and synthesized Nano adsorbents. These nano adsorbents were synthesized as Graphene like biochar (GSB), Hematite (Fe2O3) nanoparticles (HNP) and Hematite incorporated Graphene Nanocomposite (HGNC) using the agro wastes: sugarcane bagasse and orange peels. The electrospun nanofibers such as PCL/CS nanofiber (NF), Hematite Nanofiber (HNF), Graphene Nanofiber (GNF) and Hematite Graphene Nanocomposite Nanofiber (HGNF) were fabricated by optimizing the polymer ratio and suitable solvent system. newlineThe synthesized Nano adsorbent and fabricated electrospun nanofibers were characterized by UV-visible spectrophotometer, Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy, XRD spectroscopy, FESEM, HRTEM, EDS and vibrating sample magnetometer and water contact angle. The NF, HNF, GNF and HGNF were tested for Cr6+ and Cs+ adsorption at different parameters such as pH, dose, initial concentration, time and temperature newline