Synthesis of a novel carbon nanofiber structure for removal of lead

Removal of Lead(ii) From Aqueous Solution Using Polyacrylonitrile/Zinc Oxide Activated Carbon Nanofibers

“…As results, more pores were created which contributes to larger specific surface area [8]. Nevertheless, the SSA obtained by both ACNFs were lower as compared to the studies reported elsewhere [9]. It is believed that the carbonization and activation process of the ACNFs might be incomplete, and thus contributed to low SSA when analyzed by BET analysis.…”

“…The removal efficiency, R(%) and adsorption capacity of prepared PAN-ZnO ACNFs were calculated using equation 1 and 2, respectively [9]:…”

“…Adsorption isotherm analysis was conducted to analyze the adsorption behavior of ACNFs for the removal of Pb(II) ions from aqueous solution. The linear equations of Langmuir and Freundlich models are described from equation 3 and 4, respectively [9].…”

“…Figure 5 displays the FTIR spectrum of neat and PAN/ZnO based ACNFs. It can be seen that the activation process removed nitrile groups (C≡N) and methylene group (CH 2 ), only carbon and hydrogen remain as observed at wavelength peaks of 1573 cm -1 and 1250 cm -1 indicating aromatic C-C groups and alkyl halides C-H groups [9]. In addition, absorption peak at 436.5cm -1 was identified as Zn-O, indicating the presence of ZnO nanoparticles in the composite ACNFs [11].…”

“…Recently, many researchers had focused on incorporating various metal oxides such as magnesium oxide, iron oxide, zinc oxide, aluminium oxide and manganese oxide as additive in the dope suspension of ACNFs [7]. Adding metal oxides such as zinc oxide can enhance adsorption capacity as it is reported that these additives can improve the properties of the ACNFs [8,9]. Thus, the aim of this study is to fabricate ACNFs based polyacrylonitrile (PAN) as carbon precursor and zinc oxide as additive by electrospinning process.…”