Wood-inspired nanocellulose aerogel adsorbents with excellent selective pollutants capture, superfast adsorption, and easy regeneration

Liuting Mo; Huiwen Pang; Yutong Lu; Zhi Li; Haijiao Kang; Maogong Wang; Shifeng Zhang; Jianzhang Li

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.125612

Wood-inspired nanocellulose aerogel adsorbents with excellent selective pollutants capture, superfast adsorption, and easy regeneration

J Hazard Mater. 2021 Aug 5:415:125612. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.125612. Epub 2021 Mar 8.

Authors

Liuting Mo¹, Huiwen Pang¹, Yutong Lu¹, Zhi Li¹, Haijiao Kang¹, Maogong Wang², Shifeng Zhang³, Jianzhang Li¹

Affiliations

¹ MOE Key Laboratory of Wooden Material Science and Application, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China; Beijing Key Laboratory of Wood Science and Engineering, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China.
² CNPC Engineering Technology R&D Company Limited, Beijing 102206, China.
³ MOE Key Laboratory of Wooden Material Science and Application, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China; Beijing Key Laboratory of Wood Science and Engineering, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China. Electronic address: shifeng.zhang@bjfu.edu.cn.

PMID: 33730646
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.125612

Abstract

Heavy metal ions can cause a series of hazards to environment and humans. Herein, we developed a wood-inspired nanocellulose aerogel adsorbent with excellent selective capability, superfast adsorption, and easy regeneration. The premise for the design is that the biomimetic honeycomb architecture and specific covalent bonding networks can provide the adsorbent with structural and mechanical integrity yet superfast removal of target contaminants. The as-obtained adsorbent showed the maximum adsorption capacity for Pb(II), Cu(II), Zn(II), Cd(II), and Mn(II) of 571 mg g^-1, 462 mg g^-1, 361 mg g^-1, 263 mg g^-1, and 208 mg g^-1, respectively. The adsorbent could remove Pb(II) species with super-rapid speed (87% and 100% of its equilibrium uptake in 2 min and 10 min, respectively). Furthermore, the adsorption isotherm and kinetics models were in accord with the Langmuir and pseudo-second-order models, indicating that the adsorption behavior was dominated by monolayer chemisorption. The aerogel adsorbent had better affinity for Pb(II) than other coexisting ions in wastewater and could be regenerated for at least five cycles. Such a wood-inspired aerogel adsorbent holds great potential in the application of contaminant cleaning.

Keywords: Capture selectivity; Cellulose nanofiber aerogels; Mechanical stability; Recyclability; Superfast adsorption.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't