In this work, the preparation and characterization of glutaraldehyde-crosslinked electrospun nanofibers of chitosan/poly(vinyl alcohol) (GCCPN) as a new adsorbent for tetracycline (TC) is reported. Electrospun nanofibers of chitosan/poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) were prepared by employing a 75:25 volumetric ratio of chitosan:PVA, voltage of 30 kV, collection distance of 10 cm, and injection flow rate of 2 mL/h. Then, the nanofibers were crosslinked via applying the glutaraldehyde on them for 3 h at 40 °C. The nanofibers were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and X-ray diffraction. Uniform beadless nanofibers with minimum diameters of 3-11 and 6-18 nm were obtained before and after crosslinking, respectively. Then the applicability of the synthesized GCCPN for removal of TC from aqueous solutions was investigated. The response surface method was applied to evaluate the influence of pH (6-12), TC concentration (50-250 mg/L) and the adsorbent dose (0.05-0.25 g in 20 mL solution) on the adsorption characteristics of GCCPN. The maximum adsorption capacity was 102 mg/g. The adsorption kinetics was explained most effectively by the pseudo-second-order model. The adsorption data of TC on the GCCPN surface was explained well by the Langmuir isotherm model.

Fabrication and characterization of chitosan/poly(vinyl alcohol) electrospun nanofibers for adsorption of phenol from water were investigated. The effects of voltage (15–30 kV), solution injection flow rate (0.5–1.5 ml/hr), distance of needle and collector (10–20 cm) and chitosan/poly(vinyl alcohol) ratio (25/75, 50/50, 75/25) were studied to obtain the optimum electrospinning conditions for the maximum adsorption capacity of phenol. Central composite design (CCD) was used to investigate and optimize the processing factors for production of chitosan/poly(vinyl alcohol) nanofibers from aqueous solutions. The nanofibers were characterized using scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Uniform beadless nanofibers with the minimum diameters of 3–11 nm were obtained at chitosan/poly(vinyl alcohol) ratio of 50/50, voltage of 22.5 kV, distance of 15 cm and injection flow rate of 1.99 ml hr−1. Fourier transform infrared spectrum of chitosan/poly(vinyl alcohol) exhibited the existence of relevant functional groups of both poly(vinyl alcohol) and chitosan in the blends. Results of CCD show that among all processing factors, rate of electrospinning will highly affect the nanofiber adsorption. The response surface quadratic order model presented correlation coefficient explaining 69.5% of the variability in the adsorption. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.