Superior sorption capacity and one-step reduction of Au(III) by a novel chitosan-based electrospun fiber mat: A cheap and simple technique

[Display omitted] •A novel chitosan-based fiber mat was synthesized by electrospinning technique.•Sorption capacity of Au(III) by the fiber mat CS-Glu-Th reached 2.28 × 106 mg/kg.•Favorable sorption selectivity of Au(III) by the fiber mat CS-Glu-Th was achieved.•94.55% of sorbed Au(III) was directly reduced to Au(0) by C-N group on CS-Glu-Th.•The profit rate of Au(III) recovered vs. cost for CS-Glu-Th synthesis is about 22.0%. In this study, electrospinning technique was used to synthesize a novel cost-effective fiber mat chitosan-glutaraldehyde-thiourea (CS-Glu-Th) with superior maximum sorption capacity, sorption rate, and selectivity. The sorption results showed that CS-Glu-Th performed perfectly at both low and high concentrations of Au(III), with the maximum sorption capacity above 2.28 × 106 mg/kg at high concentrations and a recovery efficiency of 98.44% at low concentrations; sorption equilibrium was reached in about 5 h. Sorption of Au(III) on CS-Glu-Th was driven by a combination of both electrostatic attraction and coordination interaction with C–N, CN, and CS groups. Importantly, 94.55% of the sorbed Au(III) was directly reduced to elemental gold by the electron donor C-N group. Additionally, CS-Glu-Th showed favorable sorption selectivity for Au(III); its recovery efficiency reached 97.30% under the interference of co-existing elements (i.e., Cu(II), Ni(II), Pb(II), Zn(II), and Pt(IV)) at a same concentration of 2 mg/L. A cost-benefit analysis showed that if one synthesizes 1 kg of CS-Glu-Th, a profit of 33044.7 RMB can be achieved by recovering Au(III) from an industrial application scenario, equivalent to a profit rate of 22.0%. Our findings highlight that the finally-synthesized fiber mat CS-Glu-Th is a promising material to recover gold from the aqueous phase with excellent performance.