Cellulose macromolecule as a source for advanced materials preparation

Abstract

Cellulose is the most abundant, biopolymer on Earth. It has numerous applications in many industries and can be engineered into fibers, films, sponges, beads, and other cellulosic materials. Of special interest, cellulose aerogels with high surface area and better pore characteristics have attracted considerable attention due to their properties such as biodegradability, biocompatibility, etc. In this paper, we present two main applications of cellulose-based materials for CO2 absorption and dye removal. The current CO2 capture, storage, and utilization technologies include absorption, adsorption, membrane and cryogenic processes. Among those, the adsorption processes on solid adsorbents have been regarded as the most attractive technique due to their high CO2 sorption capacity, low cost, low energy, and reusability. In this regard, solid sorbents prepared from cellulose are promising because of their relative abundance, sustainability, biodegradability, non-toxicity, renewability, thermal stability and good sorption properties. Activated carbons possess high surface areas and low chemical reactivity, therefore, they have been widely used as adsorbents at low and ambient temperatures. Data for the CO2 capture by CO2-activated cellulose aerogels with enhanced surface area and microporosity showed 383% and 311% increase in CO2 absorption respectively at 0 °C and 25 °C. Furthermore, cationic functionalization of cellulose aerogels resulted in 99.6% removal of negatively charged dye molecules.