Excellent Adsorption Performance Research Articles

Constructing sustainable keratin/algae biohydrogels for efficient removal of aniline blue via a pre-extrusion induced self-crosslinking strategy

Two environmentally friendly hierarchical porous biohydrogels, honeycomb keratin hydrogel (HKH) and spongy keratin-algae hydrogel (SKAH), were fabricated using an extrusion approach by using extruded keratin with or without algae. The extruded keratin exhibits exceptional self-crosslinking properties, making the biohydrogels behave with excellent adsorption performance for aniline blue dye removal from wastewater. In addition, the SKAH demonstrated a significantly higher maximum uptake capacity of 442.56 mg/g, surpassing that of the HKH (134.63 mg/g). This enhancement can be attributed to the looser porous structure of the SKAH, which enables better exposure of active groups within the material, which indicates the introduction of algae led to noticeable variations in the microstructure and performance of the adsorbent. Systematic investigation on the adsorption performance of isotherm and kinetics analyses indicated that chemisorption played a predominant role in governing the overall rate of adsorption. Overall, this extrusion approach allows for a simplified and non-toxic method of synthesizing these biohydrogels without the need for additional chemical reagents or biocross-linkers, promoting their eco-friendliness and reducing potential environmental impacts. The unique feature presents significant opportunity to fabricate sustainable and eco-friendly biohydrogel adsorbent for wastewater treatment.

The effect of pretreatment on the adsorption efficiency of activated carbon

Activated carbon (AC) is a very diverse adsorbent material with high porosity, high surface area, and excellent performance in vapor phase adsorption. The pretreatment provides a guaranteed way for the efficient adsorption performance of AC, which can remove the impurities and improve the porosity of AC. In this study, the difference between acid pretreatment and alkali pretreatment of coconut shell carbon was systematically investigated. The effect of heating with stirring pretreatment and ultrasonic pretreatment after acid treatment were also researched. The Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) specific surface area, the N2 saturation adsorption, and the porosity of AC by acid-ultrasonic pretreatment can reach 1094.30 m2g−1, 352.51 cm3 (STP) g−1, and 0.5453 cm3g−1, respectively, which are higher than that of acid-heating with stirring pretreatment and alkali-heating with stirring pretreatment. Combined with the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) analysis data, AC by acid-ultrasonic pretreatment has a better microstructure and clearer aperture. Among the three methods of preprocessing, acid-ultrasonic pretreatment yields the most favorable results. This work provides a possible way for AC pretreatment.

The dual-configured hydrogen bonds induced by polymerized deep eutectic solvents-modified magnetic biochar enhanced the selectivity for 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine

The accurate discovering and monitoring of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) are especially important because of its substantial toxicity and potential harm to human and the ecological systems. Three types of polymerized deep eutectic solvents functionalized magnetic biochar (MBC@poly (AA/AAC/AAm-ChCl)) were successfully synthesized to adsorb MDMA. The isotherm and kinetic data confirmed that MBC@poly (AAm-ChCl) had the strongest adsorption capacity, and the order of adsorption capacity is as follow: MBC@poly(AAm-ChCl) > MBC@poly(AA-ChCl) > MBC@poly(MAA-ChCl), which also revealed that the adsorption was heterogeneous multi-layer chemisorption. The findings of the characterizations manifested that MBC@poly(AAm-ChCl) was the optimal adsorbent owning to its higher nitrogen content, resulting in the formation of a greater number of hydrogen bonds. Due to the strong hydrogen bonding effect of CO and –NH2 functional groups, MBC@poly(AAm-ChCl) exhibited the high selectivity towards MDMA under the coexistence of multiple chemical substances, and excellent adsorption performance over the pH range of 4–11. Urea as a hydrogen bond inhibitor further confirmed MBC@poly(AAm-ChCl) had high-density active hydrogen bonding sites. Furthermore, utilizing density functional theory (DFT) for simulating adsorption both before and after the process verified that the high selectivity of MBC@poly(AAm-ChCl) attributed to the formation of the dual-configured hydrogen bonds. This study provides support for the production of highly selective biochar for use in pretreatment during drug detection.

Effective microwave regeneration of natural sepiolite and montmorillonite as adsorbents for tetracycline removal and mechanism insight

Natural clay minerals such as sepiolite (Sep) and montmorillonite (Mt) are used as low-cost adsorbents to remove tetracycline (TC) in water, and the spent adsorbents saturated with TC are regenerated under microwave (MW) irradiation. The adsorption and regeneration properties of Sep and Mt are compared. The possible adsorption and MW regeneration mechanisms are proposed. The results show that 11.25 mg·g−1 and 20.74 mg·g−1 adsorption capacities of Sep and Mt are obtained, respectively, within 120.0 min at 298 K. Mt has higher adsorption capacity, faster adsorption rate and shorter adsorption time for TC than that of Sep. The adsorption processes using Sep and Mt are well-fitted to pseudo-second-order kinetics and Langmuir models. The two adsorption reactions are spontaneous and endothermic, with increased randomness at solid–liquid interfaces. Moreover, 89.76 % and 114.45 % maximum regeneration ratios are obtained for Sep and Mt, respectively. Mt exhibits superior regeneration performance than Sep. After eight adsorption-regeneration cycles, the two adsorbents can maintain excellent adsorption and regeneration performance. This work provides new perspectives on the adsorption technology using natural clay minerals to remove antibiotics and the MW regeneration technology to regenerate spent natural clay minerals saturated with organic pollutants in organic wastewater treatment.

Facile construction of a stable core-shell spherically magnetic polyimide covalent organic framework for efficient extraction of phenylurea herbicides

Efficient enrichment is crucial for the highly sensitive monitoring of phenylurea herbicides (PUHs) in various environmental waters. In this work, a stable core-shell spherically magnetic polyimide covalent organic framework (COF) was synthesized via a simple template-mediated precipitation polymerization method under mild conditions using tri(4-aminophenyl)amine (TAPA) and 3,3′,4,4′-biphenyltetracarboxylic dianhydride (BPDA) as the building units (denoted as Fe3O4@TAPA-BPDA). The Fe3O4@TAPA-BPDA exhibits remarkable adsorption performance for PUHs with an optimized adsorption time of only 10 min. The adsorption of PUHs by Fe3O4@TAPA-BPDA followed the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and the Langmuir model. Furthermore, hydrogen bonding, halogen bonding, hydrophobic interaction, electro donor-acceptor interaction and π-π interactions are identified as the dominant mechanisms contributing to excellent adsorption performance. It was demonstrated that halogen bonds play an important role in the adsorption of substances containing chlorine atoms. The Fe3O4@TAPA-BPDA is easy to operate and highly regenerable. A simple magnetic solid-phase extraction (MSPE) method based on the Fe3O4@TAPA-BPDA was then developed for the rapid extraction of five PUHs in real samples, coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) determination. The analytical method developed has a linear range of 0.5–50 ng/mL, and the limit of detection (LOD) ranges from 0.06 to 0.10 ng/mL. The method exhibits good accuracy with recoveries ranged from 74.5 % to 111.4 %. The analytical method was successfully applied to the highly sensitive detection of PUHs in environmental water samples, which highlighting the potential application of the Fe3O4@TAPA-BPDA in the sample pretreatment.

Humic acid-based polyphenol-functionalized collagen fiber for efficient recognition capture of iodine vapor

Effective capture of radioactive iodine vapor is a crucial part of the spent fuel reprocessing process. In this study, humic acid (HA), which has excellent recognition capture of iodine vapor, is introduced as the active site construction center, functionalizing and modifying alkali-activated collagen fiber (ACF), to prepare the biomass composite functional materials (HA@ACF). The results demonstrate that HA@ACF exhibits exceptional recognition ability and a strong affinity for iodine vapor, with an adsorption capacity of 2811.8 mg/g (ACF is only 1068.6 mg/g). Simultaneously, under relative humidity of 27 % and strong acid conditions, the iodine vapor capture capacity of HA@ACF only decreased by 17.2 %, indicating that the material exhibits excellent iodine capture performance under complex conditions. The excellent adsorption performance is attributed to the synergistic effect of abundant −NHR, C = O, and phenolic hydroxyl active sites in HA@ACF, which recognize and induce iodine vapor, resulting in the capture of iodine molecules as I3-. Meanwhile, DFT calculations reveal the excellent adsorption energy (−0.51 eV) of iodine vapor on the phenolic hydroxyl groups on HA. Therefore, the HA@ACF biomass composite functional material can be an ideal candidate adsorbent for the efficient recognition capture of radioactive iodine vapor in airborne effluent.

Biopolymer Meets Nanoclay: Rational Fabrication of Superb Adsorption Beads from Green Precursors for Efficient Capture of Pb(II) and Dyes.

Renewable, green, and safe natural biopolymer-derived materials are highly desired for the purification of pollutants, but significantly improving their performance without the introduction of additional harmful chemicals remains a huge challenge. Based on the concept of "structure optimization design", environment-friendly composite beads (named SA/PASP/RE) with excellent adsorption performance and recyclability were rationally constructed through a green ionic crosslinking route, using the completely green biopolymer sodium alginate (SA), sodium salt of polyaspartic acid (PASP), and the natural nanoclay rectorite (RE) as starting materials. The nano-layered RE was embedded in the polymer matrix to prevent the polymer chain from becoming over-entangled so that more adsorption sites inside the polymer network were exposed, which effectively improved the mass transfer efficiency of the adsorbent and the removal rate of contaminants. The composite beads embedded with 0.6% RE showed high adsorption capacities of 211.78, 197.13, and 195.69 mg/g for Pb(II) and 643.00, 577.80, and 567.10 mg/g for methylene blue (MB) in Yellow River water, Yangtze River water, and tap water, respectively. And the beads embedded with 43% RE could efficiently adsorb Pb(II) and MB with high capacities of 187.78 mg/g and 586.46 mg/g, respectively. This study provides a new route to design and develop a green, cost-effective, and efficient adsorbent for the decontamination of wastewater.

Nanoarchitectonics of high-performance TiO2/C composites from Ti4+-coordination crosslinked Pickering emulsion gel

TiO2/C composites have been developed from polysaccharide-Ti4+ complex to photodegrade methylene blue (MB) but with low BET surface area. The present study aimed to obtain TiO2/C composite materials with improved BET surface area by Ti4+-coordination crosslinked Pickering emulsion gel. FT-IR, UV–vis, XRD, XPS, UV–vis DRS, TG-DTA, PEC, N2 adsorption-desorption, SEM-EDS, and TEM were used to characterize the morphology and structure of the as-prepared composite materials. The composites showed enhanced BET surface area with uniform particle size, in which the TiO2 was distributed uniformly. Carbon is mainly present on the surface, which facilitates the separation of charge carriers. The photodegradation properties of the obtained composite materials were investigated. TiO2/C composite prepared at 500 °C has excellent adsorption and photodegradation performance, and 98.91 % of MB was removed within 40 min. In addition, the composite material has good cycling stability. Overall, a simple and efficient method for TiO2/C preparation was proposed, which can be promoted to other polysaccharides.

Exploring the Micropore Functional Mechanism of N2O Adsorption by the Eucalyptus Bark-based Porous Carbon.

Nitrous oxide (N2O), recognized as a significant greenhouse gas, has received insufficient research attention in the past. In view of their low energy consumption and cost-effectiveness, the application of porous materials in adsorption is increasingly regarded as a potent strategy to reduce N2O pollution. In this study, a series of microporous porous carbons with a preeminent specific surface area (244.54-2018.08 m2 g-1), which are derived from the fast-growing eucalyptus bark, were synthesized by KOH activation at high temperatures. The obtained materials demonstrated a relatively fine N2O capture capability (0.19-0.68 mmol g-1) at normal temperature and pressure. More importantly, the optimal pore size affecting N2O adsorption (0.8 and 1.0 nm) has been detected, which is a meaningful view that has never been put forward in previous studies. The rationality of the N2O adsorption mechanism was also validated by combining the experimental analysis and Grand Canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulation. The calculated results showed that 0.8 and 1.0 nm of the porous carbon were the preferred pore sizes for N2O adsorption, and the interaction force between N2O and the pore wall decreased with the increase of distance. This study provides a significant theoretical basis for the preparation of biomass porous carbon with excellent N2O adsorption performance and practical adsorption application.

Cobalt metal replaces Co-ZIF-8 mesoporous material for effective adsorption of arsenic from wastewater.

The high cost and low adsorption capacity of primary metal-organic frameworks (ZIF-8) limit their application in heavy metal removal. In this paper, Co/Zn bimetallic MOF materials were synthesized with excellent adsorption performance for As5+. The adsorption reached equilibrium after 180 min and the maximum adsorption was 250.088 mg/g. In addition, Co-ZIF-8 showed strong selective adsorption of As5+. The adsorption process model of Co-ZIF-8 fits well with the pseudo-second-order kinetic model (R2=0.997) and Langmuir isotherm model (R2=0.994), and it is demonstrated that the adsorption behavior of the adsorbent is a single layer of chemical adsorption. In addition, when the adsorbent enters the arsenic-containing solution, the surface of Co-ZIF-8 is hydrolyzed to produce a large number of Co-OH active sites, and As5+ arrives at the surface of Co-ZIF-8 by electrostatic adsorption and combines with the active sites to generate the arsenic-containing complex As-O-Co. After four cycles, Co-ZIF-8 showed 80% adsorption of As5+. This study not only provides a new method to capture As5+ in water by preparing MOF with partial replacement of the central metal, but also has great significance for the harmless disposal of polluted water.

Removal of ciprofloxacin and heavy metals from water by bentonite/activated carbon composite: Kinetic, isotherm, thermodynamic and breakthrough curve modeling studies

This study explores the potential of a new, cost-effective adsorbent for removing ciprofloxacin (CIP) and heavy metals (HMs) from wastewater. This adsorbent is a mesoporous activated carbon (AC) crafted from sugarcane bagasse modified with bentonite (SCBB). The prepared composite was characterized using FTIR, XRD, SEM, and BET techniques. Optimal adsorption conditions were determined, with initial concentrations set at 15 and 300 mg/L, adsorbent doses at 100 and 50 mg, temperatures at 25 and 45 °C, and pH levels at 6 for CIP and HMs, respectively, in batch experiments. Kinetics data confirmed that adsorption follows pseudo-first-order model, with intraparticle diffusion identified as the rate-determining step. Three-parameter models were superior in describing experimental data compared to two-parameter models, with the Sips isotherm model indicating multilayer adsorption beyond monolayer saturation. Hydrophobicity likely plays a key role in CIP adsorption, potentially complemented by hydrogen bonding, while HMs are adsorbed through ion exchange, complexation, and pore diffusion processes. Furthermore, SCBB exhibited excellent adsorption performance (≥90 %) even after ten regeneration cycles. The impact of various operating parameters, including bed depth, feed concentration, and flow rate, were optimized in fixed bed column. Breakthrough data fitting the Dose Response, Thomas, and Yoon-Nelson models yielded high coefficients of determination (R2 ≥ 0.98). The techno-economic analysis identified SCBB preparation ($0.31/kg) as the main cost factor, but still predicts profitability with a payback period of 0.88 years and a break-even point of 58.6 %. Overall, the developed SCBB composite demonstrates significant potential as an efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable adsorbent, with applicability for the treatment of industrial wastewater contaminated with CIP and HMs.

Mixed surfactant assisted synthesis of single-crystal Ni2P hollow spheres with excellent adsorption performance

The single-crystal Ni2P hollow spheres have been synthesized via a solvothermal route in presence of mixed surfactant. It is showed that solvent played a significant role for the synthesis of Ni2P. Furthermore, the structure of hollow spheres would be obtained only using the mixtures of cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) and sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS) which act as soft template rather than single CTAB or pure SDBS. Finally, it turned out that the single-crystal Ni2P hollow spheres exhibit excellent adsorption activity for malachite green (MG) organic dyes.

Efficient and ultrafast adsorption of aromatic amino acids by hyper-crosslinked porous cyclodextrin polymers with high adsorption capacity

The adsorption separation technology is of key significance in the purification of aromatic amino acids (AAAs) and the production of their derivatives. However, defects are always present in existing adsorbents for AAAs with slow adsorption rates, low adsorption capacity, and poor regeneration performance. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop more efficient adsorbents for AAAs to improve separation and purification efficiency and productivity. In this study, partially benzylated cyclodextrin-based hyper-crosslinked porous polymers (PBCD-B-D) were prepared, among which the one with β-cyclodextrin as monomer (PBβ-CD-B-D) exhibited an extremely rapid adsorption process, a high adsorption capacity for AAAs, and a good selectivity toward AAAs over other amino acids. Specifically, the adsorption of AAAs reached equilibrium within one minute, while the equilibrium adsorption capacities of PBβ-CD-B-D for Trp and Phe were up to 524.58 mg·g−1 (almost the highest till now) and 189.48 mg·g−1, respectively. The pseudo-second-order kinetic model and the Freundlich model were better suited for describing the adsorption process. The comprehensive analysis of experimental results suggested that host–guest cooperation and π-π interactions may be the two dominant factors affecting the adsorption of AAAs on PBβ-CD-B-D. In addition, PBβ-CD-B-D exhibited good reusability, with the adsorption capacity remaining at 83.67 % after 4 adsorption–desorption cycles. Due to its low cost, good reusability, and excellent adsorption performance, PBβ-CD-B-D has great potential for application in the adsorptive removal and recovery of AAAs.

One-Step Synthesis of Polyethyleneimine-Grafted Styrene-Maleic Anhydride Copolymer Adsorbents for Effective Adsorption of Anionic Dyes.

Wastewater containing organic dyes has become one of the important challenges in water treatment due to its high salt content and resistance to natural degradation. In this work, a novelty adsorbent, PEI-SMA, was prepared by grafting polyethyleneimine (PEI) onto styrene-maleic anhydride copolymer (SMA) through an amidation reaction. The various factors, such as pH, adsorbent dosage, contact time, dye concentration, and temperature, which may affect the adsorption of PEI-SMA for Reactive Black 5 (RB5), were systematically investigated by static adsorption experiments. The adsorption process of PEI-SMA for RB5 was more consistent with the Langmuir isotherm model and the pseudo-second-order model, suggesting a single-layer chemisorption. PEI-SMA exhibits excellent adsorption performance for RB5 dye, with a maximum adsorption capacity of 1749.19 mg g-1 at pH = 2. Additionally, PEI-SMA exhibited highly efficient RB5 competitive adsorption against coexisting Cl- and SO42- ions and cationic dyes. The adsorption mechanism was explored, and it can be explained as the synergistic effect of electrostatic interaction, hydrogen bonding and π-π interaction. This study demonstrates that PEI-SMA could act as a high performance and promising candidate for the effective adsorption of anionic dyes from aqueous solutions.

Host-Host Interactions Enhanced the Structural Rigidity in a 6-Fold Interpenetrated Diamondoid Metal-Organic Framework Exhibiting C2H2/C2H4 Separation.

Multi-interpenetrated metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have exhibited excellent performance in selective adsorption due to the variable post-interspersed flexibility, but the design and control remain challenging. Herein, two anthracene-based ligands, 4,4'-(anthracene-9,10-diyl)dibenzoic acid (H2L1) and 9,10-di(pyridin-4-yl)anthracene (L2), are used to construct a new three-dimensional 6-fold interpenetrated MOF [Zn(L1)(L2)]n (NBU-X1), which exhibits multiple C-H···π interactions that enhance the structural rigidity, thereby entangling with a C2H2/C2H4 separation performance. In this material, the incorporation of abundant anthracene rings within the framework not only partitions and restricts the pore window size to a quasi-double pore but also stabilizes it through host-host interactions. The structural stability upon heating or guest displacement/removal has been investigated by single-crystal X-ray diffraction and in situ variable-temperature powder X-ray diffraction, in contrast to the extreme flexibility of most multi-interpenetrated MOFs. The performance of purifying C2H4 from C2H2/C2H4 mixtures has been proved by dynamic breakthrough tests.

Removal of arsenic from water by silver nanoparticles and Fe-Ce mixed oxide supported on polymeric anion exchanger

By encapsulating nanoscale particles of goethite (α-FeO(OH)), hydrous ceric oxide (CeO2·H2O, HCO) and silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in the pores of polystyrene anion exchanger D201, a novel nanocomposite FeO(OH)-HCO-Ag-D201 was prepared for the effective removal of arsenic from water. The isotherm study shows that FeO(OH)-HCO-Ag-D201 has excellent adsorption performance for As(III) and As(V), with an increased adsorption capacity of As(III) to 40.12 mg/g compared to that of 22.03 mg/g by the composite adsorbent without AgNPs (FeO(OH)-HCO-D201). The adsorption kinetics data showed that the sorption rate of FeO(OH)-HCO-Ag-D201 for As(III) is less than that for As(V), and the adsorption of As(III) and As(V) were consistent with the pseudo-second-order model and the pseudo-first-order model, respectively. Neutral or basic conditions are favored for the adsorption of As(III/V) by FeO(OH)-HCO-Ag-D201. Compared with nitrate/chloride/bicarbonate, sulfate/silicate/phosphate showed more remarkable inhibition of arsenic removal by FeO(OH)-HCO-Ag-D201, whereas natural organic matter showed no interference to the arsenic removal. The As(V) adsorption involved different interactions such as electrostatic attraction and surface complexation, while the adsorption of As(III) involved the part oxidization of As(III) to As(V) and the simultaneous adsorption of As(III) and As(V). In addition to the Ce(IV) in CeO2·H2O acted as an oxidant, the synergistic effect of α-FeO(OH) and AgNPs also contributed to the oxidization of As(III) to As(V). Moreover, the reusable property suggested that this FeO(OH)-HCO-Ag-D201 nanocomposite has great potential for arsenic-contaminated water purification.

La-doped CeO2/rGO hybrid with high oxygen vacancy to enhance phosphorus adsorption by capacitive deionization

Cerium oxide is one of the most attractive electrode materials in capacitive deionization (CDI) technology for selective phosphate adsorption due to the specific interaction. However, Ce3+/Ce4+ ratio and material conductivity of cerium oxide electrode determine the adsorption performance. Herein, a dual strategy was exploited with polyol-solvothermal reaction in the presence of graphite oxide and cerium salt followed by hydrothermal La-doping to obtain the three-dimensional (3D) assembly of La-doped CeO2 at the reduced graphene oxide (La-CeO2/rGO). The as-prepared La-CeO2/rGO hybrid exhibited interconnected structure with CeO2 uniformly distributed on the rGO support. La3+, by partially replacing Ce4+ in the lattice, was evenly fused into CeO2 nanosphere, enhancing the content of Ce3+ and oxygen vacancies and inhibiting lattice distortion. As a CDI positive electrode, the La0.15-CeO2/rGO with optimal La doping achieved the maximum theoretical adsorption capacity of 118.7 mg P/g with high separation factor (αSO42-P = 13.9), superior to the CeO2/rGO (67.8 mg P/g, αSO42-P = 10.1). In addition, the La-CeO2/rGO electrode is extremely robust, with excellent adsorption performance in wide pH range and good regeneration ability, compared to CeO2/rGO. This work proves that the synergy of trace La doping and 3D rGO support effectively improves the adsorption performance of La-CeO2/rGO electrodes and enhances the cycling stability of CDI devices. The corresponding adsorption mechanism was demonstrated.

Synthesis of porous carbon/zeolite composites by low-temperature acid-alkaline leaching from coal gasification fine slag for adsorption of dye wastewater

The conversion and utilization of coal gasification slag is considered one of the key issues in the development of the modern coal chemical industry. In this work, porous carbon/Na-P1 zeolite composites were successfully prepared by a simple and easy-to-operate acid-alkali leaching method on the basis of the composition of coal gasification fine slag. The synthesized CZ-10 possessed a honeycomb-like porous carbon structure and a typical flower-cluster zeolite structure, with the specific surface area and pore volume reaching 195.68 m2/g and 0.257 m3/g, respectively. CZ-10 showed excellent adsorption performance, with an equilibrium adsorption capacity of 175.93 mg/g on methylene blue (MB) at 300 K. CZ-10 can effectively adsorb MB in a wide pH range, and the increase in pH was favorable for adsorption. According to the results of adsorption kinetics and isothermal adsorption experiments, the adsorption process was in good agreement with PSO model and Sips model. According to the characterization results and adsorption experiments, it was speculated that the adsorption of CZ-10 on MB was mainly chemisorption, and may be affected by various factors such as ion-exchange, electrostatic attraction, hydrogen bonding, π-π bonding and van der Waals forces.

Scalable confined-space microwave heating strategy enables the rapid preparation of N/O co-doped activated carbons with high gas capture capacity

Heteroatom doping is essential for enhancing the performance of activated carbons (ACs) in various environmental-related applications. Herein, a scalable confined-space microwave heating (CSMH) strategy is proposed and demonstrated to achieve minute-level fast preparation of N/O co-doping ACs with well-developed porosity. The introduction of confined space prevents the escape of nitrogenous and oxygenous volatiles, enabling the sufficient reaction for heteroatom doping. Therefore, the nitrogen content of MWC-0.5 (6.0 at.%) is higher than that of MW-0.5 (3.5 at.%) and CH-0.5 (4.3 at.%). This causes a nearly 50 % reduction in the consumption of nitrogenous reagents. Moreover, through CSMH strategy, N/O co-doped ACs (6.0 at% and 8.1 at% for N and O, respectively) with high pore volume (0.53 cm3 g−1) can be acquired to achieve an excellent adsorption performance for toluene (0.31 g g−1) and CO2 (3.97 mmol g−1 at 25 °C and 1 bar) and outstanding CO2/N2 selectivity (189 at 0.02 bar). This work for the first time develops a scalable confined-space N/O co-doped strategy for enhancing the chemical activity of ACs with low-spend nitrogenous reagents.

Dissolution and Regeneration of Cellulose and Chitosan in Molten Salt Hydrate

The energy and environmental problems caused by current fossil resources are becoming more and more serious, and the development of renewable and sustainable materials has become a research hotspot. Chitosan and cellulose, as the two most abundant biomasses in nature, have the advantages of being non-toxic, harmless, and environmentally friendly. However, due to their high crystallinity, it is difficult to dissolve in water and common organic solvents. Molten salt hydrate has been discovered as a cost-effective and non-derivative solvent system for dissolving biomass. In this paper, the dissolution and regeneration of microcrystalline cellulose and chitosan in the molten salt system to prepare gel materials is investigated using lithium bromide molten salt as an example. First dissolve cellulose and chitosan, the total mass is unchanged according to the mixing ratio of the two are divided into multiple groups, dissolved in a mass fraction of 60% lithium bromide solution at 140°C into a hydrogel, gradient regeneration in water-ethanol-tert-butanol, to produce aerogel composites, the molten salt rotary evaporation back to use. Characterization tests show that the material has uniform distribution of nanoscale pores, pore size of about 50nm, porosity of 97.53%, strain 50% range can withstand up to 0.4MPa. 6mm thickness of the sample can be insulated at 150°C for up to 2h or more, the degree of adsorption of 2500mg/L copper sulfate solution reaches 22115.4mg/g. It has excellent thermal insulation and adsorption performance and has a wide range of application prospects in environmental protection, biomedical and other fields.