Sharif Digital Repository

In this research, poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/chitosan electrospun nanofibrous membrane (ENM) was prepared by electrospinning method in order to investigate its dye removal ability from colored wastewater. The morphology and average fiber diameter of the membranes were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), image analysis and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The chemical characterization was studied by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The permeability of the membranes was evaluated by measuring pure water flux (PWF). In order to investigate the performance of the prepared membranes they were used in the batch adsorption and membrane separation for dye removal from... 

The unique properties of graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets were integrated with the superparamagnetic characteristics of the CuFe2O4 nanoparticles to synthesize the magnetic graphene oxide (MGO), which was chemically modified with 3-amino propyl trimethoxy silane (APTMS) to functionalize the amine group on MGO (MGO-NH2). Afterward, MGO-NH2 was activated with glutaraldehyde (GLU) as a crosslinking agent to synthesize the functionalized MGO (fMGO) and its capability toward covalent Laccase immobilization was investigated. The comprehensive structural analysis using various characterization techniques, including Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), vibrating... 

In this study, graphene oxide (GO) was synthesized via modified Hummer's method and exploited as an ideal enzyme immobilization support due to its exclusive chemical and structural features. Then, laccase from genetically modified Aspergillus was covalently immobilized onto GO (nanobiocatalyst). Enzymatic characterization of the nanobiocatalyst exhibited promising results: laccase loading of 156.5 mg g−1 and immobilization yield of 64.6% at laccase concentration of 0.9 mg/ mL. Further employment of various structural characterization techniques including Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray Powder Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Thermo-Gravimetric... 

Biological treatment, especially enzymatic methods, can be employed for effective and environmental- friendly treatment of dye effluents. Laccase, belonging to the blue multi-copper oxidases category, can oxidize a wide variety of substrates, especially synthetic dyes. In this study, laccase was used to biodegrade two azo dyes, i.e., Direct Red 23 and Acid Blue 92. Before conducting the experiments, the laccase used in this study was enzymatically characterized. Face-centered central composite design (FCCCD) was used to optimize the main parameters of the decolorization process. The optimum conditions to maximize the bio-decolorization process of AB92 were X1=11.85 mg L-1, X2=5.10, and... 

In this research, cobalt ferrite (CoFe2O4) magnetic nanoparticles as well as MIL-53(Fe) structure were synthesized by the hydrothermal and solvothermal methods, respectively. Moreover, magnetic composites of MIL-53(Fe)/CoFe2O4 nanoparticles with different cobalt ferrite loadings (i.e.; 0.05, 0.1 and 0.2 g) were prepared via the solvothermal method. The main novelty of the present research was to synthesize a magnetic composite of MIL-53(Fe)/CoFe2O4 nanoparticles in order to perform rapid photodegradation of Direct Red 23 (DR23) dye under the LED visible light irradiation. Good magnetic properties of the fabricated composite led to easy separation and rapid retrieval of the catalyst from the... 

Herein, MIL-101(Fe), CoFe2O4, novel binary (MIL-101(Fe)/CoFe2O4, MIL-101(Fe)/GO and CoFe2O4/GO), and ternary (MIL-101(Fe)/CoFe2O4/(3%)GO and MIL-101(Fe)/CoFe2O4/(7%)GO) magnetic composites based upon the MIL-101(Fe) were synthesized. The XRD, FESEM, TEM, EDX, BET-BJH, FTIR, VSM, DRS, PL, EIS and other electrochemical analyses were applied to characterize samples. The MIL/CoFe2O4/(3%)GO demonstrated the best performance compared to other samples for visible light photocatalytic and photo-Fenton-like degradation of Direct Red 23 (DtR-23), Reactive Red 198 (ReR-198) dyes as well as Tetracycline Hydrochloride (TC-H) antibiotic. Degradation of dyes using the ternary composite after 70 min of... 

The construction of binary and ternary heterojunctions has gathered attention in water remediation applications. Herein, g-C3N4, MIL-101(Fe), and MIL-101(Fe)/g-C3N4 binary composite were synthesized by in-situ growth of MIL-101(Fe) crystals along with the nanosheets of g-C3N4. The materials have been characterized by XRD, FTIR, SEM, EDS, DRS, PL, and BET/BJH. The highest degradation efficiency achieved using MIL-101(Fe)/g-C3N4 nanocomposite was 99.3% while the pristine g-C3N4 degraded only 40% of the pollutants by photocatalyst dosage = 0.005 g, pH = 4.8, and irradiation time = 90 min condition. This enhanced photocatalytic performance might be attributed to improved optical properties and... 

In this study, zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF-8) as a metal-organic framework (MOF) and its hybrid nanocomposites based on graphene oxide (GO) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were synthesized by facile method at an ambient temperature. The sufficiency of GO and CNT substrates as the main components of the composites to grow nanoscale MOFs and increase dispersive forces were investigated. The characteristics of the MOF and hybrid nanocomposites were studied using FTIR, SEM, XRD, BET and TGA techniques. The prepared nanomaterials applied as adsorbents to remove malachite green (MG) as a cationic dye from colored wastewater. The removal rates of the hybrid nanocomposites were greater than that... 

In this study, novel chitosan/poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/SiO2 nanocomposite ENMs were prepared to improve the mechanical strength and permeation properties of ENMs. The effect of various concentrations of SiO2 in the spinning solution (0, 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 wt %) on the morphology, fiber diameter, porosity, thermomechanical properties, and permeability of the synthesized membranes was investigated. The prepared affinity membranes were utilized for the removal of dye from colored wastewater. Incorporating SiO2, as a reinforcing agent, was found to increase the compaction resistance of the nanocomposite ENMs. With the addition of 0.5 wt % of SiO2, the Young's modulus of the prepared membranes... 

Novel montmorillonite (Mt) chitosan/poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) nanocomposite electrospun nanofibrous membranes (ENM) were prepared and utilized for the treatment of colored wastewater. The Mt. with different mass percentages (0, 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 mass%) was added to the membrane structure, and its effect on morphology, pore size, porosity, mechanical strength, and permeation properties of ENM were investigated. The fabricated membranes were used as affinity membranes for dye removal with ultrafast permeating adsorption. The results showed that incorporating Mt. as a reinforcing agent improved the nanocomposite ENM resistance to compaction. Young's modulus for the prepared membranes increased... 

Herein, magnetic metal-organic framework nanocomposite (ZIF-8@SiO2@MnFe2O4) was synthesized. The ultrasound-assisted simultaneous adsorption of Malachite Green (MG) and Methyl Orange (MO) as cationic and anionic dyes onto ZIF-8@SiO2@MnFe2O4 magnetic microporous nanocomposite (MMNC) as a novel adsorbent was investigated. The FTIR, FESEM, TEM, XRD, BET and VSM were used to characterize the prepared adsorbent. The analysis of dyes concentration in a binary mixture was investigated using zero-order and first order derivative spectrophotometry. The individual effects and possible interactions between the various parameters were investigated by response surface methodology (RSM). The optimized... 

A new magnetic composite was synthesized by integration of ZnFe2O4 and MIL-53(Fe) micro-rods by a solvothermal method. This composite served as a heterogeneous catalyst to overcome the high electron-hole recombination rates of ZnFe2O4 and to enhance the degradation of Direct Red 23 under visible light irradiation. Different analytical techniques, including XRD, FTIR, SEM, DRS, VSM, and PL, were employed to characterize the synthesized heterojunction nanocomposite and to evaluate its photocatalytic activity. The ZnFe2O4/MIL-53(Fe)/Vis-light system resulted in significantly higher dye degradation as compared with pristine ZnFe2O4 and MIL-53(Fe) semiconductors at the optimum pH of 3.1 and... 

In this study, a reliable and predictive model namely, least-squares support vector machine (LS-SVM) was developed to predict dye removal efficiency. Four LS-SVM models have been developed and tested using more than 630 series of experimental data which were obtained from our previous paper. These data consist of adsorbate type, adsorbent dosage, initial dye concentration, salt, absorbance time and dye removal efficiency. Direct Red 31 (DR31), Direct Green 6 (DG6) and Acid Blue (AB92) were used as a model dyes. The results show that the developed model is more accurate and reliable with the average absolute relative deviation of 0.678%, 0.877%, 0.581% and 0.978% for single systems and... 

ZnO/CuO nanofibers, with different CuO concentrations, were fabricated by one-step electrospinning of the polymer precursor and annealing in air. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed smooth and beadless morphology for the synthesized nanofibers, while X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis revealed formation of hexagonal and monoclinic crystalline structure phases for ZnO and CuO nanofibers, respectively. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis confirmed the presence of CuO on the surface of ZnO nanofibers. For further confirming the formation of chemical bonds, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy was employed. The effect of Cu contents in the overall electronic band... 

Herein, NiO and Co2 O3, NiCo2 O4, and NiCo2 O4 /multi-walled carbon nanotubes nanocomposite were synthesized by the hydrothermal method and characterized by scanning electron micros-copy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. The photocatalytic activity of the synthesized materials was evaluated by Reactive Red 120 dye degradation. The photocatalytic activity of NiO and Co3 O4 was enhanced not only by the formation of NiCo2 O4, but also by its interaction with the functionalized multiwall carbon nanotubes support. The response surface methodology (RSM) was used to obtain the optimum parameters, including catalyst dosage, initial dye concen-tration, and pH on the dye...