Effective removal of hazardous atrazine and chlorpyrifos by waste PET bottles-derived linker having novel MIL-53(Al)/PMMA-nanofiber incorporated poly(vinylidene) fluoride membranes

Abstract

Synthesis of novel MIL-53(Al)/PMMA nanofiber and its incorporation into PVDF thin-film composite flat-sheet membranes for the rejection of hazardous herbicides and pesticides from water is the crux of this work. Initially, poly (methyl methacrylate) polymer dope solution with MIL-53(Al) dispersed in the matrix was subjected to electrospinning to get a novel nanofiber. The linker terephthalic acid, here was derived from waste PET bottles. Both the MOF and nanofibers were characterized using BET, FTIR, zeta potential, and XRD. The optimized nanofibers were used as additives in the TFC in different weight percentages using synthesized porous PVDF as support. TFC Membranes were analyzed by pure water flux, chlorpyrifos, and atrazine rejection. MPM-2 with 0.05 wt% nanofiber gave a pure water flux of 18.6824 Lm?2h?1. The rejection of chlorpyrifos (a hazardous pesticide) was 86.8 % for MPM-2 membranes and atrazine (a herbicide) gave rejection of 60.48 %. Further, membranes gave excellent antifouling property with FRR of 95.45 %. © 2025 Elsevier Ltd