Surfactant-assisted synthesis of surface-functionalized nanoparticle-polymer electrospun composites

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11078093-B2
Application number	US-201816023808-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 29, 2018
Priority date	Jun 30, 2017
Publication date	Aug 3, 2021
Grant date	Aug 3, 2021

Abstract

A method is disclosed for synthesizing nanofilters for water treatment. The method includes: dispersing an active binding agent in an organic solvent solution to create a suspension of the active binding agent and the solution of the solvent; dissolving an organic polymer resin and an anionic surfactant in the suspension of the active binding agent and the solvent solution to create a sol gel; and electrospinning the sol gel to form electrospun nanofiber composites with embedded, surface-active nanoparticles.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for synthesizing nanofilters for water treatment, the method comprising:
dispersing amorphous Ferrihydrite (Fh) nanoparticles in an organic solvent solution to create a suspension of the amorphous Ferrihydrite (Fh) nanoparticles and the organic solvent solution;
dissolving an organic polymer resin and a quaternary ammonium surfactant in the suspension of the amorphous Ferrihydrite (Fh) nanoparticles and the organic solvent solution to create a sol gel, wherein the quaternary ammonium surfactant is cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) or tetrabutylammonium bromide (TBAB); and
electrospinning the sol gel to form electrospun nanofiber composites with embedded, surface-active nanoparticles.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the organic solvent comprises dimethylformamide (DMF), and the organic polymer resin comprises poly-acrylonitrile (PAN).

3. A method for removing contaminants using the synthesized nanofilters for water treatment of claim 1 , the method further comprising:
removing lead (Pb), Copper (Cu), Cadmium (Cd), Chromium (Cr) and/or Arsenic (As) from a water source with the electrospun composite with surface-active nanoparticles.

4. A method for removing contaminants using the synthesized nanofilters for water treatment of claim 1 , further comprising:
inactivating viruses from a water source with the surface-active nanoparticles.

5. A method for removing contaminants using the synthesized nanofilters for water treatment of claim 1 , further comprising:
removing arsenate and chromate in a flow-through filtration system with the electrospun nanofiber composites with embedded, surface-active nanoparticles.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the electrospun nanofiber composites with surface-active nanoparticles forms nanoparticles having a diameter of approximately 100 nm.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
placing the electrospun nanofiber composites with surface-active nanoparticles in a flow-through filtration system for point-of-use (POU) water treatment.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the electrospinning of the sol gel further comprises:
a single-pot synthesis, wherein the electrospun nanofiber composites with embedded, surface-active nanoparticles do not undergo a post-processing step.

9. An electrospun polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofiber composite with embedded, surface-active nanoparticles that is prepared by the method of claim 2 .

10. An electrospun polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofiber composite with embedded, surface-active nanoparticles, the PAN nanofiber composite comprising:
Amorphous Ferrihydrite (Fh) nanoparticles;
dimethylformamide (DMF);
poly-acrylonitrile (PAN); and
cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) or tetrabutylammonium bromide (TBAB).

11. The PAN nanofiber composite of claim 10 , that
the nanofilter is configured to remove lead (Pb), Copper (Cu), Cadmium (Cd), Chromium (Cr) and/or Arsenic (As) from a water source.

12. The PAN nanofiber composite of claim 10 , further comprising:
a flow-through filtration system configured to remove arsenate and/or chromate from a water source.

13. The PAN nanofiber composite of claim 10 , wherein the electrospun polyacrylonitrile (PAN) composite with surface-active nanoparticles forms nanoparticles having a diameter of approximately 100 nm.

14. The PAN nanofiber composite of claim 10 , further comprising:
a flow-through filtration system for point-of-use (POU) water treatment, and wherein the electrospun polyacrylonitrile (PAN) composite with surface-active nanoparticles are placed in the flow-through filtration system.

15. A method for removing metal contaminants from a source of water, the method comprising:
exposing a source of water to electrospun polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofiber composites with embedded, surface-active nanoparticles, wherein the electrospun polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofiber composites with embedded, surface-active nanoparticles comprise:
amorphous Ferrihydrite (Fh) nanoparticles, dimethylformamide (DMF), poly-acrylonitrile (PAN), and a quaternary ammonium surfactant selected from cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and tetrabutylammonium bromide (TBAB); and
removing the metal contaminants from the source of the water with the electrospun polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofiber composites with the embedded, surface-active nanoparticles.

Assignees

• Univ California
• Univ Iowa Res Found

Inventors

• Cwiertny David
• Myung Nosang
• Peter Katherine T
• Parkin Gene Francis

Classifications

• C02F1/505

  by oligodynamic treatment · CPC title

• D01F6/18

  from polymers of unsaturated nitriles, e.g. polyacrylonitrile, polyvinylidene cyanide · CPC title

• C02F1/288 Primary

  using composite sorbents, e.g. coated, impregnated, multi-layered · CPC title

• B01D2239/025

  comprising nanofibres · CPC title

• D10B2505/04

  Filters · CPC title