Abstract
Monolithic cryogels from starch were successfully synthesized and applied as alternative biodegradable filters for the first time. Rice flour was cross-linked with Ca2+ from limewater during gelatinization before being frozen and then thawed for three cycles. The resultant material was then soaked in ethanol for 3 h before incubation at 80 °C for 1 h, yielding monolithic material with interconnected pores in sizes of 51 ± 18 to 52 ± 15 µm without any need of freeze-drying. The cryogels possessed macroporous structure with specific surface areas from 1.1 to 4.3 m2g−1, they could adsorb water from 599 ± 27 to 635 ± 59% of their dry weight with low swelling ratios of 6.0 ± 0.3 to 6.4 ± 0.6 gwater/gcryogel, and could be applied as biofilters to remove suspended particles and reduce the light absorption of water sample from 25 ± 3 to 96 ± 5%. The prepared biofilters can be re-used up to three times, although they cost only USD 0.0004/piece. Complete weight loss resulted from burial in soil for 30 days, indicating environmentally friendly biodegradation and potential for environmental applications.
Highlights
Cryogels are cryogenically-structured polymeric materials, and have been used in biomedical [1,2], cell and tissue engineering [3], and environmental [4] applications; they are macroporous materials with a three-dimensional flexible structure, allowing for the effective mass transport of macromolecular solutes or migration of cells with high biocompatibility [5,6]
It is worth noting that white lime (WL) is calcium hydroxide, which is commonly prepared by adding water to CaO, while red lime (RL) is the mixture of WL with curcumin
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Summary
Cryogels are cryogenically-structured polymeric materials, and have been used in biomedical [1,2], cell and tissue engineering [3], and environmental [4] applications; they are macroporous materials with a three-dimensional flexible structure, allowing for the effective mass transport of macromolecular solutes or migration of cells with high biocompatibility [5,6]. Various polymeric precursors have been reported for cryogel preparation [3,5,6] Both natural and synthetic polymers can be used to produce cryogels with different morphologies and porosities [3,5,6]. Synthetic polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) is the first and the most popular polymer that has been used for cryogel preparation, both alone and in combination with other polymers [5,15,16] This is because its structure containing (-CH2-C(OH)H-)n chains, allows for various degrees of cross-linking with the participation of the active COH groups, along with various cross-linkers and co-polymers. An alternative procedure for the greener preparation of macroporous monolithic (single-rod) cryogels using starch is reported. The novel cryogels prepared via the alternative procedure reported in this work for the first time were applied as filters for water samples with satisfactory preliminary results
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