Waste plastic-derived aerogel modified with graphene oxide for hygroscopic material and oil spill treatment

Abstract

Plastic bags, also known as nylon bags, plastic packaging, latex bags, and bubble bags, are one of the most harmful segments of plastic waste to the ecosystem. Researchers estimate that plastic bags in natural surroundings take between 500 and 1000 years to fully decompose. Therefore, the recycling of non-biodegradable plastic products such as plastic bags is always a prime topic. In this study, plastic bags were used as raw materials for the synthesis of aerogel (PBA) and modified with graphene oxide (GO/PBA) to increase mechanical strength. Young's module results show that GO/PBA can withstand a maximum compression of about 55 N while PBA has a compressive force of only about 10 N. GO/PBA has a porous 3D structure, low density (0.026 g/cm3), and the major elements are C, O with the existence of C − O, which are suitable as hygroscopic materials. GO/PBA are able to absorb moisture up to 17 g/g compared to that of PBA with 10 g/g. Besides, GO/PBA is hydrophobically modified with PDMS (PDMS/GO/PBA) to increase selectivity in oil/water systems, oil spill treatment application with high oil adsorption capacity reaching 27 g/g, about 10 times the mass of the material. Thus, GO/PBA and PBMS/GO/PBA were successfully synthesized for the application of desiccant and oil adsorbent, respectively. The kinetics of the two adsorption processes are shown by pseudo-order first and second models.