Investigation of the mechanical and physico-chemical properties of a modified PAN fibrous catalyst Original Research Article

In our previous work a polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fibre was modified by hydrazine and hydroxylamine under alkaline conditions [1] to enable ligation of transition metal cations to the fibre surface so as to produce a novel oxidation catalyst analogous to a heterogeneous Fentons catalyst. The fibre was characterised with regard to its BET surface area, mechanical strength, distribution of cation content and resilience to organic solvents, acids and bases. Whilst modification had reduced the mechanical strength of the PAN fibre by half, strength indices were still sufficient for use as a catalyst in industrial applications. SEM and EDAX studies of cross-sections of the fibre showed that transition metal (Fe3+) cation distribution was surface only, penetrating 3–4 μm into the fibre. Both fibre integrity and cation content were found to be resilient to organic solvents, acids and bases over pH 2–12. These features together with its ability to decompose H2O2 demonstrate that the fibre has enormous potential for use as an oxidation catalyst in the decomposition of a range of industrial effluents and waste waters.