Investigations of the Prosopis juliflora pods loaded polycaprolactone nanofibers for the effective removal of organic dyes and microbes

Abstract

Globally, textile waste alone accounts for 20% of water pollution. Most colored organic dyes are non-biodegradable and harm aquatic life and the surrounding ecosystem. The present study used the Prosopis juliflora (PJ) pod as a low-cost adsorbent to remove the dye. The prepared pod extract was readily incorporated into the biodegradable poly-ε-caprolactone (PCL) solution and subsequently electrospun, resulting in the formation of PJ/PCL blend nanofibers. Among all the prepared mats, 13% PJ/PCL exhibits a higher removal rate for Methyl Red (MR) dye, and the maximum adsorption capacity was found to be 32.8 mg/g. The Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models predict the homogeneous adsorption of dye on the fiber mat, and the kinetic study revealed pseudo-second-order adsorption. The disk diffusion assay confirmed the antibacterial potency of the synthesized nanofibers against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Though Prosopis juliflora is considered an invasive plant species, converting them into value-added products by simple surface modification of PCL with PF pod extract improved the physical and chemical properties of composite nanofibers to eradicate organic dyes and toxic microbes from water.