Polydopamine Induced Wettability Switching of Cellulose Nanofibers/n-Dodecanethiol Composite Aerogels

Runan Gao,Yun Lu,Ying Shang,Jian Li,Yue Jiao,Peng Jiao,Antonio Caggiano

doi:10.1155/2022/5048717

Abstract

The novel wettability switchable cellulose nanofiber- (CNF-) based aerogel was conveniently prepared by polydopamine mediated composition of CNF and n-dodecanethiol. The wettability of aerogels can be controlled by adjusting the PDA and n-dodecanethiol loading content, which leads to a variation of water contact angle from 0-149°. The PDA was coated on cellulose nanofibers via hydrogen bonds and then n-dodecanethiol was anchored onto the scaffolds by Michael addition reaction, which was revealed by XPS and FTIR spectra. The composite aerogel can selectively absorb a series of oily liquids from the oil/water mixture, with the maximum absorption capacity of 68 g/g. This work presented a facile strategy to prepare wettability switchable CNF-based heterogenous aerogel and exhibited the potential of the composite aerogel for oil/water separation.

Highlights

Water pollutant caused by oily liquid spillage is an ongoing problem which is of great urgency to solve worldwide [1, 2]
A thin layer of gravel-like particles was evenly attached to the surface of the CNF, as shown in Figure 2(e), indicating that the PDA coating has been loaded onto the CNF surface
A wettability switchable cellulose nanofiber- (CNF-)based aerogels by compositing with PDA and DDT molecules was reported in this work

Summary

Introduction

Water pollutant caused by oily liquid spillage is an ongoing problem which is of great urgency to solve worldwide [1, 2]. Common remediation strategies include biological treatment, coagulation-flocculation, in situ burning, and physical oil/water separation. Physical collection/separation with absorbents or filters excels in high efficiency, secondary pollution-free, and potential for oil reclamation [3,4,5,6,7,8]. Synthetic porous materials and carbon-based sponge have been extensively investigated for oily wastewater remediation [9, 10]. Delicate surface modification endows them with special wettability and selective oil/water separation performance. These materials suffer from complicated synthesis, nondegradable composition posing environmental problems

Methods

Results

Conclusion