Electrospun nanofibrous membranes of cellulose acetate containing hydroxyapatite co-doped with Ag/Fe: morphological features, antibacterial activity and degradation of methylene blue in aqueous solution

Abstract

Cellulose acetate nanofiber membranes containing hydroxyapatite co-doped with Ag/Fe were effectively fabricated via the electrospinning technique. The use of different molar ratio compositions of hydroxyapatite co-doped with Ag/Fe in the structure of the cellulose acetate membrane was based on several aspects considering different applications. The obtained fiber membranes were characterized via field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) to determine their morphology and phases. The functionalized cellulose acetate nanofiber membranes with hydroxyapatite co-doped with Ag/Fe suitably maintained the fibrous morphology with good mechanical properties, potent antibacterial activity and high activity for the degradation of dyes for water treatment applications. The fabricated materials demonstrated outstanding mechanical properties including tensile strength (MPa) of 7.19 ± 0.7, 6.52 ± 1.1, 6.55 ± 0.8, 9.57 ± 1.2 and 10.63 ± 1.4 and toughness (MJ m⁻³) of 6.43 ± 0.8, 4.79 ± 0.6, 3.56 ± 0.7, 5.38 ± 1.1 and 9.24 ± 0.9 for 0.0Ag/Fe-HAP@CA, 0.2Ag/Fe-HAP@CA, 0.4Ag/Fe-HAP@CA, 0.6Ag/Fe-HAP@CA and 0.8Ag/Fe-HAP@CA, respectively. Due to their electrostatic attraction, the fibers exhibited strong adsorption towards the positively charged cationic dye methylene blue (MB) together with good recyclability. Additionally, the obtained membrane exhibited potent antibacterial activity towards different types of bacteria including E. coli and S. aureus. The obtained results present a novel strategy for the simple construction of nanofibrous membrane materials to achieve the dual function application of antibacterial agent and photocatalyst for the elimination of toxic dyes from wastewater.