One-Step Fabrication of Fe(OH)3@Cellulose Hollow Nanofibers with Superior Capability for Water Purification

The conventional strategies employed for the synthesis of hollow nanofibers (HNFs) require either multistep treatments or special design of the equipment. An additional annealing process is always required, which inevitably consumes more energy and raises the manufacturing cost. In addition, the annealing process may also cause a waste of the matrix materials and the release of toxic gases. Herein, we report for the first time a novel one-step synthesis of hollow hybrid nanofibers via electrospinning. Cellulose was chosen as the polymer matrix, and Fe(OH)3 nanoparticles were grown in situ on the nanofibers during electrospinning. There was no need to remove cellulose to create the hollow nanofiber structure. This can significantly simplify the fabrication process without any negative influence to the air. The obtained Fe(OH)3@cellulose HNF membranes exhibited great mechanical properties and an extremely high water flux of 11 200 L m-2 h-1 bar-1. They could effectively remove various pollutants in water, including phosphate, heavy metal ions, and organic dyes, with excellent reusability. Importantly, this approach could also be applied for the fabrication of other hybrid HNFs, which may serve in a broad range of scientific and engineering applications, including water purification, energy conversion and storage, catalysts, sensors, and so on.