Natural microfibrils/regenerated cellulose-based carbon aerogel for highly efficient oil/water separation

Xiang Ma; Shuang Zhou; Junting Li; Fei Xie; Hui Yang; Cheng Wang; Bradley D Fahlman; Wenjiang Li

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.131397

Natural microfibrils/regenerated cellulose-based carbon aerogel for highly efficient oil/water separation

J Hazard Mater. 2023 Jul 15:454:131397. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.131397. Epub 2023 Apr 12.

Authors

Xiang Ma¹, Shuang Zhou¹, Junting Li¹, Fei Xie¹, Hui Yang², Cheng Wang¹, Bradley D Fahlman³, Wenjiang Li⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Materials Science and Engineering, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin 300384, PR China.
² Zhejiang-California International Nanosystems Institute, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310012, PR China.
³ Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859, USA.
⁴ School of Materials Science and Engineering, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin 300384, PR China. Electronic address: liwj@tjut.edu.cn.

PMID: 37104952
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.131397

Abstract

Cellulose-based carbon aerogels as biodegradable and renewable biomass materials have presented potential applications in oil/water separation. Herein, a novel carbon aerogel composed of natural microfibrils/regenerated cellulose (NM/RCA) was directly prepared by economical hardwood pulp as raw material using a novel co-solvent composed of deep eutectic solvent (DES) and N-methyl morpholine-N-oxide monohydrate (NMMO·H₂O). In addition, the morphology and structure of the filiform natural microfibers could be remained after carbonized at 400 ℃, which resulted in a low density (8-10 mg cm^-3), high specific surface area (768.89 m² g^-1) and high sorption capability. In addition, the aerogel exhibited high compressibility, outstanding elasticity, excellent fatigue resistance, and recyclability (80.5% height recovery after repeating 100 cycles at the strain of 80%). Due to the morphology and composition of the carbonized microfiber surface, the superhydrophobic materials with a water contact angle of 151.5°, could sorb various oils and organic solvents with 65-133 times its own weight and maintain 91.9% sorption capacity after 25 cycles. In addition, the aerogels could achieve the continuous separation of carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄) from water with a high flux rate of 11,718.8 L m^-2 h^-1. Therefore, our prepared NM/RCA aerogels are anticipated to have broad potential applications in oil purification and contaminant remediation.

Keywords: Cellulose carbon aerogel; Deep eutectic solvent; NMMO; Oil/water separation; Superhydrophobicity.