Robust superhydrophobic cellulose nanofiber aerogel for multifunctional environmental applications
Journal article, 2019

The fabrication of superadsorbent for dye adsorption is a hot research area at present. However, the development of low-cost and highly efficient superadsorbents against toxic textile dyes is still a big challenge. Here, we fabricated hydrophobic cellulose nanofiber aerogels from cellulose nanofibers through an eco-friendly silanization reaction in liquid phase, which is an extremely efficient, rapid, cheap, and environmentally friendly procedure. Moreover, the demonstrated eco-friendly silanization technique is easy to commercialize at the industrial level. Most of the works that have reported on the hydrophobic cellulose nanofiber aerogels explored their use for the elimination of oil from water. The key novelty of the present work is that the demonstrated hydrophobic cellulose nanofibers aerogels could serve as superadsorbents against toxic textile dyes such as crystal violet dye from water and insulating materials for building applications. Here, we make use of the possible hydrophobic interactions between silane-modified cellulose nanofiber aerogel and crystal violet dye for the removal of the crystal violet dye from water. With a 10 mg/L of crystal violet (CV) aqueous solution, the silane-modified cellulose nanofiber aerogel showed a high adsorption capacity value of 150 mg/g of the aerogel. The reason for this adsorption value was due to the short-range hydrophobic interaction between the silane-modified cellulose nanofiber aerogel and the hydrophobic domains in crystal violet dye molecules. Additionally, the fabricated silane-modified cellulose nanofiber hydrophobic aerogels exhibited a lower thermal conductivity value of 0.037 W·m -1 K -1 , which was comparable to and lower than the commercial insulators such as mineral wools (0.040 W·m -1 K -1 ) and polystyrene foams (0.035 W·m -1 K -1 ). We firmly believe that the demonstrated silane-modified cellulose nanofiber aerogel could yield an eco-friendly adsorbent that is agreeable to adsorbing toxic crystal violet dyes from water as well as active building thermal insulators.

Dye removal

Cellulose nanofiber aerogels

Thermal insulators

Silane modification

Author

M. Hasan

Syiah Kuala University

Deepu A. Gopakumar

Universite de Bretagne-Sud

University of Science, Malaysia

Vishnu Arumughan

Chalmers, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Applied Chemistry

Yasir Beeran Pottathara

Mahatma Gandhi University

Univ. Bretagne Sud

K. S. Sisanth

Mahatma Gandhi University

Daniel Pasquini

Federal University of Uberlândia

Matej Bračič

University of Maribor

Bastien Seantier

Universite de Bretagne-Sud

Ange Nzihou

University of Toulouse

Sabu Thomas

Mahatma Gandhi University

Samsul Rizal

Syiah Kuala University

H. P.S. Abdul Khalil

University of Science, Malaysia

Polymers

2073-4360 (eISSN)

Vol. 11 3 495

Subject Categories

Polymer Technologies

Materials Chemistry

Other Chemistry Topics

DOI

10.3390/polym11030495

PubMed

30960479

More information

Latest update

2/4/2022 3