Preparation of polyaniline-coated polyacrylonitrile fiber mats and their application to Cr(VI) removal

- This composite materials has good hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) adsorption performance, which can be used in industrial wastewater treatment.
- A novel fabrication method (Solution blowing) was used to produced PAN nanofibers in our work, this fabrication method has many advantages such as high production efficiency and simple techniques.
- The recycling and regeneration of PANI/PAN composites were excellent.

A composite nanofibers mat containing polyacrylonitrile (PAN) as core and polyaniline (PANI) as sheath had been successfully prepared via solution spinning followed by in situ polymerization, and its hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) removal potential was investigated. By altering the processing parameters, bead-free and uniform PAN nanofibers with average diameter of 469 nm could be obtained. The morphological evolution of the PANI/PAN composite fiber mats could be controlled through regulating the molar ratio of oxidant to monomer. The PANI/PAN composite fiber mats presented a superior Cr(VI) adsorption performance. Moreover, the factors affecting the performance of Cr(VI) removal from the aqueous solutions were investigated systematically. The experimental data were fitted to various kinetic models and isothermal adsorption, and the thermodynamic parameters of adsorption process were calculated as well. The PANI/PAN adsorbents were also proven to have good recycling capability, and the mechanism of adsorption and regeneration was investigated in detail.