Self-assembled fibrils based on novel N-aryl pseudo-peptoids for effective adsorption of cationic dyes from wastewater

Schematic representation of dye adsorption on self-assembled pseudo-peptoids fibrils. • First report on the synthesis of N-aryl pseudo-peptoid analogues from 1-napthyl amine. • Self-assembly of N-aryl pseudo-peptoids showed fibrils networks with size in micron range. • Self-assembled pseudo-peptoid analogues successfully remediate cationic dyes (CV and MB). • Excellent adsorption capacity of 666.66 mg/g and 555.55 mg/g was observed for CV and MB. • Remediation of dyes follows pseudo second order kinetics with recyclability up to 5 cycles. The removal of dyes from wastewater is still challenging due to their non-biodegradability and environmental hazards. Herein, bio-compatible self-assembled N-aryl pseudo-peptoids have been synthesised for water purification with tremendous adsorption capacity. The structural modulation of novel N-aryl pseudo-peptoid analogues induced the variation in the self-assembled morphologies of synthesized derivatives. N-aryl pseudo-peptoids derivatives synthesized from 1-napthylamine by solution phase were characterized by NMR, Mass spectrometry. The self-assembled pseudo-peptoids fibrils were characterized using optical microscopy, FESEM, XRD and TGA. These derivatives showed the selective remediation of cationic dyes in real samples with excellent ability to remove dye with capacity of 666.66 mg/g for crystal violet (CV) and 555.55 mg/g for methylene blue (MB) with recyclability up to 5 times. The cationic dyes adsorption shows pseudo second order kinetics. In general, this method of dye adsorption using biocompatible pseudo-peptoid fibrils is an easy and affordable method for water remediation.