High hydrophobic ZIF-8@cellulose nanofibers/chitosan double network aerogel for oil adsorbent and oil/water separation

• Published in: International journal of biological macromolecules 2023-05, Vol.238, p.124008-124008, Article 124008
• Main Authors: Si, Rongrong, Luo, Honggang, Zhang, Tao, Pu, Junwen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aerogel; Cellulose - chemistry; Chitosan - chemistry; Nanofibers - chemistry; Oil adsorption; Oil/water separation; Oils - chemistry; Solvents; Water Pollution
• ISSN: 0141-8130; 1879-0003
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.124008

Ultralight aerogels with low bulk density, highly porous nature, and functional performance have received significant focus in the field of water pollution treatment. Here, high-crystallinity, large surface-aera metal frame-work (ZIF-8) was efficiently utilized to assist in the preparation of ultralight yet highly oil and organic solvent adsorption capacity, double-network cellulose nanofibers/chitosan-based aerogels through a physical entanglement and scalable freeze-drying approach. After chemical vapor deposition with methyltrimethoxysilane, a hydrophobic surface was obtained with a water contact angle of 132.6°. The synthetic ultralight aerogel had low density (15.87 mg/cm3) and high porosity (99.01 %). Moreover, the aerogel had a three-dimensional porous structure, which endowed it with high adsorption capacity (35.99 to 74.55 g/g) for organic solvent, and outstanding cyclic stability (>88 % of the adsorption capacity after 20 cycles). At the same time, aerogel removes oil from various oil/water mixtures by gravity alone and has excellent separation performance. This work holding excellent properties in terms of convenient, low-cost, scalability to manufacture environmentally friendly biomass-based materials for oily water pollution treatment.