Electrospun membranes of cellulose acetate/polyvinylidene difluoride containing Au/Se nanoparticles via laser ablation technique for methylene blue degradation

Abstract

Cellulose acetate (CA)/Polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) based nanofibrous were fabricated by various contributions of gold/selenium (Au/Se) nanoparticles fabricated via laser ablation. The chemical composition of the fabricated nanofibrous composites was confirmed by means of XRD, and IR techniques, while the morphological features were displayed via utilizing both FESEM and TEM techniques. The 8[Au/Se]@CA/PVDF scaffold demonstrated that the total disappearance of deep pores and fewer aggregates are observed with the smallest range of fiber filaments size that ranged from 0.4 to 1.1\xa0µm. The average roughness increased from 23.15 to 40.48\xa0nm for pure CA and the highest additional elemental dopants through CA/PVDF. The antimicrobial activities of the prepared compositions are assessed in both dark and light conditions. In light conditions, the plasmonic effect of Au initiated a germicidal activity. The activity against Aspergillus Niger under light jumped from zero in pure CA to 25\xa0mm in 8[Au/Se]@CA/PVDF scaffold, while it lacked antimicrobial activity in the dark. Furthermore, the methylene blue (MB) elimination from aqueous solutions has been observed under visible light. The removal efficiency increased to about 28.6, 30.9, 72.4, 77.0, and 92.4% after 240\xa0min of continuous irradiation upon increasing the concentration of Au/Se nanoparticles through the nanofibrous membranes. Further, the kinetic parameters of the nanofibrous membranes have been calculated and showed an increase from 1.41\u2009×\u200910 –3 to 10.23\u2009×\u200910 –3 \xa0min −1 for Pure CA and 8[Au/Se]@CA/PVDF, respectively.