Multifunctional Gas-Spinning Hierarchical Architecture: A Robust and Efficient Nanofiber Membrane for Simultaneous Air and Water Contaminant Remediation

Abstract

Today, poor water and air quality caused by fine particulate matters (PMs), toxic spills, and antibiotic-containing wastewater are posing serious threats and risks to the environment and human health. Although many contaminant materials can be effectively removed by the traditional membrane technology, the simultaneous multifunctional materials like PM removal, oily water separation, and antibiotic adsorption are rarely reported. In addition, most of the membranes are destroyed when working in the harsh environment such as high temperatures, high pressures, strong acids and bases, and so on. In this work, a multifunctional Fe3O4@polyacrylonitrile/chitosan (Fe3O4@PAN/CS) membrane with robust stability and repeatable usage was fabricated via a simple and environment-friendly gas-spinning method; the obtained functional membrane is supposed to be applied in both air and liquid contaminant remediation. In comparison with the reported membranes, the multifunctional Fe3O4@PAN/CS composite nanofiber membranes not only have excellent performance in air filtration, antibiotic adsorption, or oil–water separation but also show robust reusability and durability even in harsh environments. Our strategy would bring ideas to the design and fabrication of multifunctional membranes for simultaneous environmental remediation such as air purification and wastewater treatment.