Electrospun silica nanofiber mats functionalized with ceria nanoparticles for water decontamination

Abstract

This study demonstrates the fabrication of nanoceria-immobilized silica nanofibers for efficient water decontamination with easy reuse and regeneration properties. Commercially-available ceria (CeO 2 ) nanoparticles were immobilized on electrospun silica nanofiber mats. Optimal conditions for both oxidation of model trace organic compounds (TrOCs) and hydroxyl-radical formation were determined in batch experiments with ceria nanoparticles. Kinetic experiments showed comparable oxidation rates of positively-and neutrally-charged TrOCs (95 and 98%, respectively) by the nanofiber composites at pH 2 in 0.5 mM H 2 O 2 . We demonstrated the reuse properties of the ceria nanofiber composites, finding less than a 15% reduction in oxidation performance after 10 cycles. In addition to this oxidative performance, the electrospun CeO 2 nanofiber composites are also applicable for adsorbing the persistent contaminant perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) through electrostatic interactions. Regeneration of the fibers was enabled through a one-hour heat treatment at 550 C in air. Overall, results from this study show that the nanoceria-immobilized silica nanofibers can be used as efficient oxidative and adsorptive media to treat TrOCs in acidic waters, without use of an additional catalyst separation stage from solution.

Engineering Biomimetic Extracellular Matrix with Silica Nanofibers: From 1D Material to 3D Network

“…For example, Zucker et al fabricated nanoceria-immobilized SNFs for efficient water decontamination with high reusability. 200 Ceria nanoparticles are regarded as a catalytic material in industry, due to the surface oxygen vacancy effect by the reduction of Ce 4+ ions to Ce 3+ . 301 In their design, CeO 2 nanoparticles were immobilized on the surface of electrospun SNFs simply by incubation.…”

“…In addition to PVP, other polymers can also be used for electrospinning silica fibers using a similar procedure, such as poly­(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), which is, like PVP, nontoxic, biocompatible, and easily soluble in water. ,, Unlike PVP, PVA is not removed through calcination after the silica fiber is collected. Poly­(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) is another candidate for constructing silica fibers.…”

Tunable Molybdenum Disulfide-Enabled Fiber Mats for High-Efficiency Removal of Mercury from Water

“…To overcome these barriers, one emerging field of research is the exploration of nanoenabled scaffolds, which capitalize on process engineering and strategic material pairing to address many of the issues raised in nanoenabled water treatment. , Electrospun fibers have attracted attention as a promising anchor for nanomaterials because they help prevent aggregation and enable facile removal, regeneration, and reuse of active components, , thereby avoiding the costly recovery of suspended nanomaterials . They also mitigate nanomaterial release into the environment, minimizing cost and risk, whether perceived or real, to users and the environment.…”

Direct generation of electrospun interconnected macroporous nanofibers using a water bath as a collector

“…It is worth mentioning that due to the high porosity and outstanding specific surface area of porous structure, it can be used in various applications such as tissue engineering [28,29], drug delivery [30], water treatment applications [31][32][33][34], sensors [35,36], photocatalysis [37,38], lithium-ion batteries [39,40], energy harvesting [6], and so on [41][42][43]. To the best of our knowledge, few studies have investigated the generation of porous fibers using a bath collector [44][45][46].…”