Electrospun nanofiber mats as sorbents for polar emerging organic contaminants: Demonstrating tailorable material performance for uptake of neonicotinoid insecticides from water.

ABSTRACT: The number and diversity of chemical contaminants in aquatic environments require versatile technologies for their removal. Here we fabricated various electrospun nanofiber mats (ENMs) and tested their ability to sorb six neonicotinoid insecticides, a model family of small, polar contaminants. ENM formulations were polyacrylonitrile (PAN) or carbon nanofibers (CNF; carbonized from PAN), with additives including carbon nanotubes (CNTs; with and without surface carboxyl groups), the cationic surfactant tetrabutyl ammonium bromide (TBAB), and/or phthalic acid (PTA; a CNF porogen). While sorption on pure PAN ENMs was low [equilibrium partition coefficients (K _ENM-W ) from 0.9 to 1.2 log units (L/kg)], inclusion of CNTs and/or TBAB generally increased uptake in an addit

SUBMITTER: Nagorzanski M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10063225 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature