Novel sandwiched composite electro-spun mats based on polyacrylonitrile and polyvinyl butyral for fast oil-water separation

In recent years, the issue on oil pollution in water has drawn continuous attention of researchers. Wastewater containing oil is generated in various industrial technologies, such as petrochemical, leather, textile, food, steel, and metal-finishing industries. Thus, oil sorbents are very commonly used during oil spills cleanup operation for their cost-effectiveness and affordability. In the present work, a novel sandwiched composite electro-spun nanofibrous mat (SCEM) was generated by electro-spinning technique. This sandwiched composite electro-spun mat was fabricated by sandwiching the chitosan-incorporated polyvinyl butyral nanofiber mat between two layers of polyacrylonitrile electro-spun mats. Surface morphology of the generated multilayer nanofibrous mat was observed by the static water contact angle measurement, SEM and FTIR analyses. SCEM was modified by alcoholysis reaction to increase the hydrophobicity and oleophilicity properties by enhancing the surface roughness. After fabrication and modification processes, oil-absorption capacities of single mats, SCEM, and modified mat designated as M-SCEM were investigated and calculated in terms of weight gains. Mats with sandwich structure exhibited excellent absorption capacities up to 100-140 times their own weight for motor oil. The obtained results suggest that these characteristics make spun bond nanofibrous mat a promising oil sorbent material for efficient oily water remediation.