Flexible Underwater Oleophobic Cellulose Aerogels for Efficient Oil/Water Separation

Bo Fu; Qiqi Yang; Fan Yang

doi:10.1021/acsomega.0c00440

Flexible Underwater Oleophobic Cellulose Aerogels for Efficient Oil/Water Separation

ACS Omega. 2020 Mar 31;5(14):8181-8187. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.0c00440. eCollection 2020 Apr 14.

Authors

Bo Fu¹, Qiqi Yang¹, Fan Yang²

Affiliations

¹ College of Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu Key Lab for the Chemistry & Utilization of Agricultural and Forest Biomass, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China.
² School of Management Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Finance and Economics, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210023, China.

Abstract

Hybrid cellulose/N,N'-methylene bisacrylamide/graphene oxide (GO) aerogels with high flexibility and underwater oleophobicity were fabricated via the NaOH/urea solvent system. The as-prepared aerogels demonstrated low density, high porosity, and good flexibility. Underwater oleophobicity is attributed to the abundant hydrophilic groups in the aerogel skeleton, rough surface, and homogeneous distribution of GO. The samples were shaped into the membrane and filtered for oil/water separation by gravity. The separation efficiency over membrane-shaped CG₁ was 99.8% with a permeate flux of 22,900 L/(m²·h). Moreover, excellent reusability and durability were observed under long-term tests and corrosive conditions.