In this research, polyaniline (PANI) was used to modify polyacrylonitrile (PAN) electrospun nanofibers for separating oil/water (O/W) emulsions due to its hydrophilic amino groups and simple synthesis. The fabrication of PAN/PANI membranes was carried out by two different methods: blending of PANI with PAN in pre‐electrospinning solution and coating of PANI on the PAN electrospun nanofibers using in situ polymerization of aniline. The effect of PANI composition (10, 20, 30 and 40 wt% with respect to the weight of PAN) and electrospinning temperature (25°C, 40°C and 55°C) was investigated in PAN/PANI membrane fabrication. The prepared membranes were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), water and under water oil contact angle (WCA and UOCA) measurement and mechanical tensile test. Regarding the results, PAN/40%PANI nanofibers prepared at 40°C was considered as the superhydrophilic nanofibers (WCA < 5°) and the most suitable membrane among the samples for separation of O/W emulsions. Separation studies revealed a flux of 1300 Lmh (pure water) under gravity and an efficient oil rejection of about 98.8% for PAN/40%PANI@40°C membrane. Hence, the PAN/40%PANI@40°C membrane was subjected to additional tests including separation of different industrial oils, emulsion separation with surfactant agent, separation under harsh acidic/basic conditions and fouling test. The results confirmed an efficient performance of the obtained superhydrophilic membrane for O/W separation, which make it a potential candidate for the purification of water from industrial organic pollutant.

中文翻译：

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通过改性聚丙烯腈/聚苯胺复合材料开发用于油/水乳液分离的超亲水纳米纤维膜

在这项研究中，聚苯胺（PANI）由于其亲水性氨基基团和易于合成而被用于改性聚丙烯腈（PAN）电纺纳米纤维，以分离油/水（O / W）乳液。PAN / PANI膜的制造是通过两种不同的方法进行：在预静电溶液与PAN PANI的混合和使用上的PAN电纺纳米纤维的PANI涂布原位苯胺聚合。在PAN / PANI膜的制造中，研究了PANI组成（相对于PAN的重量为10、20、30和40 wt％）和静电纺丝温度（25°C，40°C和55°C）的影响。通过傅里叶变换红外光谱（FTIR），场发射扫描电子显微镜（FESEM），原子力显微镜（AFM），水和水在油下的接触角（WCA和UOCA）测量和机械拉伸试验对制备的膜进行表征。关于结果，在40℃下制备的PAN / 40％PANI纳米纤维被认为是超亲水性纳米纤维（WCA ＜5°），并且是用于分离O / W乳液的样品中最合适的膜。分离研究表明，在重力作用下通量为1300 Lmh（纯水），PAN / 40％PANI @ 40°C膜的排油效率约为98.8％。因此，对PAN / 40％PANI @ 40°C膜进行了额外的测试，包括分离不同的工业油，用表面活性剂进行乳液分离，在苛刻的酸性/碱性条件下进行分离以及结垢测试。结果证实了所获得的超亲水膜用于O / W分离的有效性能，使其成为从工业有机污染物中纯化水的潜在候选者。