Statistically engineered self-cleaning neoteric multifunctional PAN-GOCM and PAN-BDMCAQD electrospun nanofibers for ultrafiltration, heavy metal removal and corrosion mitigation

An investigation on two novel nanomaterials curcumin-derived graphene oxide (GOCM) nanosheets and bisdemethoxycurcumin-analog quantum dots (BDMCAQD) on polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofiber platform was carried out to evaluate their performance in water treatment and corrosion mitigation. GOCM was acquired by pyrolyzing curcumin and the BDMCAQDs were obtained by laser ablation. The prepared nanomaterials were analyzed by SEM/TEM, XRD, Raman, FTIR, and were blended with PAN to obtain nanofibers through electrospinning. The fabrication process parameters were optimized by TOPSIS −Taguchi L9 (33) DoE. The optimized (A2B2C3) PAN-GOCM (Fd:116.1 nm) and (A2B2C3) PAN-BDMCAQD (Fd:110.9 nm) exhibited improved filtration performance with Pr: 79.45 %; 77.2 %; TS: 35.22 (MPa); 24.73 (MPa); PWF: 4038 (L/hr.m2), 3790 (L/hr.m2); SR: 94.25 %, 92.52 %; FRR: 96.17 %, 98.05 % respectively. Both PAN-GOCM (CA = 31.6°; ζ = -40.31 mV) and PAN-BDMCAQD (CA = 37.7°; ζ = -42.48 mV) exhibited remarkable photocatalytic self-cleaning performance, and also showed excellent heavy metal removal of53 % Pb (II), 82 % Cd (II) and 96 % Cr (VI)for PAN-GOCMand48 % Pb (II), 98 % Cd (II) and 90 % Cr (VI) for PAN-BDMCAQD. The nanofibers (A2B2C1) also showed excellent anticorrosion behavior on 316 L SS with 99.75 % and 99.85 % IE for PAN-GOCM and PAN-BDMCAQD respectively, evident from electrochemical analysis, indicating good corrosion protection of coated samples.