Adsorption Optimization of Congo Red Dye onto Electrospun Nanofibers of Polyacrylonitrile functionalized with Fe₃O₄ Nanoparticles

Ferric oxide nanoparticles Fe₃O₄NPs have been prepared by the coprecipitation method, which were used to functionalize the surface of electrospun nanofibers of polyacrylonitrile to increase their effectiveness in adsorption of Congo red (CR) dye from their aqueous solutions. The effect factors of adsorption were systematically investigated such as adsorbent mass, initial concentration, contact time, temperature, ionic strength and pH. The maximum adsorbed amount of the dye was at 0.003g of adsorbent. The adsorption of dye increased with increasing initial dye concentration and the system reaches to the equilibrium state at 150 min. The adsorbed dye capacity decreases with increasing temperature which indicates to the exothermic nature of adsorption system. The results referred that the adsorption capacity increases with increasing ionic strength and it was in natural medium has a greatest value. So, the desorption process was examined to demonstrate the possibility of recycling of the adsorbent surface. The desorbed dye from the studied adsorbent surface in basic solution was better than acidic solution.