Department of Chemistry, National University of Singapore, 3 Science Drive 3, Singapore, 117543, Singapore.
Nanoscale. 2011 Nov;3(11):4625-31. doi: 10.1039/c1nr10739a. Epub 2011 Sep 9.
Contamination of water from nanomaterials will be an emerging problem in the future due to incorporation of nanomaterials in many commercial products and improper disposal of waste materials. In this report, electrospun polyvinyl alcohol nanofibers (PVA NFs) with diameters ranging between 300 and 500 nm were used for the extraction of nanosized contaminants from the aqueous environment. To obtain the best extraction efficiency, surface hydroxyl groups of PVA NFs were chemically modified with functional groups, such as thiols and amines. Two model nanoparticles (silver and gold) dissolved in water were used for adsorption studies. Depending on the nature of the surface functionalities, the fibers showed unique ability to adsorb nanoparticles. The extraction studies revealed that the amine and thiol modified PVA NFs showed 90% extraction efficiency for both silver and gold nanoparticles. The thiol and amine functionalized PVA NFs showed maximum adsorption capacities (Q(t)) towards Au NPs, which were around 79-84 mg g(-1). Similarly for Ag NP extraction, amine functionalized PVA NFs showed a value for Q(t) at 56 mg g(-1). Our results highlight that functionalized nanofibers have high extraction efficiency for dissolved nanoparticles in water and can be used for removal of the nanocontaminants from the aqueous environment.
由于纳米材料在许多商业产品中的应用以及废物处理不当，未来水中的纳米材料污染将成为一个新出现的问题。在本报告中，我们使用直径在 300 至 500nm 之间的电纺聚乙烯醇纳米纤维（PVA NFs）来从水环境中提取纳米级污染物。为了获得最佳的提取效率，我们通过化学修饰 PVA NFs 的表面羟基基团，引入了巯基和胺基等官能团。我们使用两种模型纳米颗粒（银和金）溶解在水中进行吸附研究。根据表面官能团的性质，纤维表现出独特的吸附纳米颗粒的能力。萃取研究表明，胺基和巯基修饰的 PVA NFs 对银和金纳米颗粒的萃取效率均达到 90%。对于 Au NPs 的吸附，巯基和胺基功能化的 PVA NFs 的最大吸附容量（Q(t)）约为 79-84mg g(-1)。对于 Ag NP 的萃取，胺基功能化的 PVA NFs 的 Q(t) 值为 56mg g(-1)。我们的研究结果表明，功能化纳米纤维对水中溶解的纳米颗粒具有很高的萃取效率，可用于从水环境污染中去除纳米污染物。
