pH-sensitive cellulose/chitin nanofibrillar hydrogel for dye pollutant removal

Seungoh Jung; Jungkyu Kim; Junsik Bang; Minjung Jung; Sangwoo Park; Heecheol Yun; Hyo Won Kwak

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2023.121090

pH-sensitive cellulose/chitin nanofibrillar hydrogel for dye pollutant removal

Carbohydr Polym. 2023 Oct 1:317:121090. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2023.121090. Epub 2023 Jun 5.

Authors

Seungoh Jung¹, Jungkyu Kim¹, Junsik Bang¹, Minjung Jung¹, Sangwoo Park¹, Heecheol Yun¹, Hyo Won Kwak²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Bioresources, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea.
² Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Bioresources, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea; Research Institute of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: bk0502@snu.ac.kr.

PMID: 37364959
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2023.121090

Abstract

In this study, a pH-sensitive smart hydrogel was successfully prepared by combining a polyelectrolyte complex using biopolymeric nanofibrils. By adding a green citric acid cross-linking agent to the formed chitin and cellulose-derived nanofibrillar polyelectrolytic complex, a hydrogel with excellent structural stability could be prepared even in a water environment, and all processes were conducted in an aqueous system. The prepared biopolymeric nanofibrillar hydrogel not only enables rapid conversion of swelling degree and surface charge according to pH but can also effectively remove ionic contaminants. The ionic dye removal capacity was 372.0 mg/g for anionic AO and 140.5 mg/g for cationic MB. The surface charge conversion ability according to pH could be easily applied to the desorption of the removed contaminants, and as a result, it showed an excellent contaminant removal efficiency of 95.1 % or more even in the repeated reuse process 5 times. Overall, the eco-friendly biopolymeric nanofibrillar pH-sensitive hydrogel shows potential for complex wastewater treatment and long-term use.

Keywords: Adsorption; Cellulose nanofiber; Chitin nanofiber; Dye removal; Hydrogel; pH-sensitivity.