Multilayer Electrospun Nanofibrous Membranes for Enhanced Heavy Metal Remediation

Highlights: What are the main findings? Multilayer electrospun nanofibrous membranes based on polyacrylonitrile (PAN), chitosan (CS), and Nylon 6 (N6) were engineered and mechanically optimized for the adsorption of hexavalent chromium and cadmium from water. The optimized CS–N6–PAN architecture achieved removal efficiencies above 80% for (Formula presented.) and approximately 79% for (Formula presented.) in synthetic solutions, while maintaining high performance in real river water. What are the implications of these findings? These multilayer electrospun membranes, particularly with chitosan as the outer functional layer, offer a robust and environmentally friendly platform for heavy metal remediation in contaminated waters. The combination of high adsorption efficiency, mechanical stability, and effectiveness in real water matrices underscores their potential for scalable and sustainable water treatment applications. This study presents the fabrication and performance analysis of multilayer membranes produced by electrospinning using polyacrylonitrile (PAN), chitosan (CS), and Nylon 6 (N6) for the removal of chromium (Cr) and cadmium (Cd) from water. The electrospun membranes were configured in six different multilayer structures. The morphological and mechanical properties of the membranes were evaluated using SEM and tensile testing. Adsorption experiments were performed using synthetic and real water samples from the Cutuchi River. The multilayer membranes demonstrated metal ion removal efficiencies up to 80.81% for (Formula presented.) and 78.98% for (Formula presented.) in synthetic water, and similar performance in real samples. These results validate the use of multilayer electrospun membranes as an effective, environmentally friendly method for water purification applications.