Electrospinning of polyacrylonitrile/polyamidoamine composite nanofibers as a novel adsorbent with high dye removal capacity

In this paper, polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-polyamidoamine (PAMAM) composite nanofibers as a novel adsorbent were generated using electrospinning technique. Physical characteristics of adsorbents were studied using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Results indicated that addition of PAMAM dendrimer into PAN affects the spinning solution viscosity, needing a wide range of voltage to produce uniform nanofibers. Direct red 80 (DR80) and Direct red 23 (DR23) were used as the model compounds. The maximum dye adsorption capacity (Q0) of PAN/PAMAM composite nanofibers for two different amounts of PAMAM dendrimer in composite (10 %w/w and 20 %w/w) was 1666.66 and 2000 mg/g for DR80 and DR23, respectively. Adsorption of both dyes onto various composites was based on the Langmuir isotherm.