Chemical Engineering Journal, Vol.306, 242-250, 2016
Homogenized electrospun nanofiber reinforced microporous polymer sponge
A microporous organic polymer (MOP) sponge was prepared using a homogenized electrospun nanofiber as the reinforcement. The electrospun nanofiber (PVASi) obtained from a solution of PVA and TEOS was used as the substrate for the polymerization reaction. The Sonogashira-Hagihara coupling reaction of 2,5-dibromoaniline and 1,3,5-triethynylbenzene in a dispersion of homogenized PVASi nanofibers produced the compressible MOP composite with a core-shell structure (PVASi@TEDB-NH2). The polymer was uniformly grown on the surface of the nanofibers because TEDB-NH2 had primary amino groups that could form hydrogen bonds with the hydroxyl groups on the surface of PVASi. PVASi@TEDB-NH2 showed an average density and a BET surface area of 30.4 mg cm(-3) and 447 m(2) g(-1), respectively. The composite sponge was used for the removal of an organic dye dissolved in water. When PVASi@TEDB-NH2 was manually compressed and released in an aqueous methylene blue (MB) solution, the dye adsorption occurred rapidly. Although PVASi@TEDB-NH2 was hydrophobic and floated on water, the composite sponge was completely immersed in water after several compression and release processes. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.