Electrospinning: Polymer Nanofibre Adsorbent Applications for Metal Ion Removal

In recent decades, electrospun nanofibres have been applied to different potential fields such as sensor devices, tissue engineering scaffolds, wound dressing, filtration, drug delivery, etc. and significant review papers have been published in these fields. However, the use of electrospun nanofibres in metal ion adsorption is emerging and comparatively innovative. Nanofibre materials hold great potential in advancing the growth of metallurgical technologies and progress for the separation of metallic ions from various sources. The physico-chemical removal processes of adsorption use nanofibres due to their large surface area to volume ratio and the availability of a wide variety of chemical and morphological modification methods. In this review paper, research and developments related to electrospun polymer nanofibre for metal ion removal is presented. The review highlights the emerging and increasing use of electrospun nanofibres for metal ion adsorption especially for hazardous metals. Fundamental understanding of the electrospinning fabrication process, working parameters as they affect fibre morphologies, solvents and polymers used in electrospinning is discussed. This work summarizes the current status of process technique development and ideas in the research and use of electrospun nanofibres in heavy metal ion adsorption to address environmental problems from contaminated water.