Fabrication, characterization and evaluation of electrospun membranes in the recovery of precious metal Ions

Abstract

Precious Metals (PM), like Palladium and Gold, have gathered great attention in the last few years due to their specific physicochemical properties, including their strong catalytic activity and environmental stability. Their continuously increased value is a combination of their scarcity and increased demand across the different industries which has led to sustainability issues on the supply of these metals. To overcome these issues many alternative recycling methods are employed to recover those metals from wastewaters and other sources like old car catalytic converters and Printed Circuit Boards of electronics. Electrospun fibers with diameters in the micro- and nanoscale are highly interesting materials in the world of materials engineering. Their unique properties including high porosity, large surface area, mechanical and chemical resistance and ease of functionalization renders them potential sorbent materials. In the present study, functionalized electrospun fibers of various chemical compositions and morphologies have been produced and evaluated as candidate adsorbents for the effective adsorption of Precious Metals from acidic aqueous model solutions. Furthermore, chemical and morphological stability tests were carried out by exposing the produced materials in highly acidic environments and at elevated temperatures.