Fabrication and Application of Carboxymethyl Cellulose-Carbon Nanotube Aerogels

Abstract

In this study, composite aerogels with excellent mechanical properties were prepared by using carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) as raw materials, with carboxylic carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as reinforcement. By controlling the mass fraction of CNTs, composite aerogels with different CNTs were prepared, and the surface morphology, specific surface area, compressive modulus, density and adsorption capacities towards different oils were studied. Compared to the pure CMC aerogel, the specific surface areas of CMC/CNTs were decreased because of the agglomeration of CNTs. However, the densities of composite aerogels were lower than pure CMC aerogel. This is because the CNTs were first dispersed in water and then added to CMC solution. The results indicated that it was easy for the low CMC initial concentration to be converted to low density aerogel. The compressive modulus was increased from 0.3 MPa of pure CMC aerogel to 0.5 MPa of 5 wt % CMC/CNTs aerogel. Meanwhile, the prepared aerogels showed promising properties as the adsorption materials. Because of the high viscosity, liquid possesses strong adhesion to the pore wall, the adsorption capacity of the CMC aerogel to the liquid increases as the viscosity of the liquid increases.

A Comprehensive Review of Cross-Linked Gels as Vehicles for Drug Delivery to Treat Central Nervous System Disorders

“…CMC is used in cross-linked gels in fields such as wound healing, drug delivery, plant breeding, and tissue engineering attributed of its biocompatibility, biodegradability, water solubility, abundance, low cost, and environmental friendliness [ 67 , 74 ]. The insufficient amount of hydroxyl group in the CMC chain results in difficulty in gelation of cellulose solutions and reduced mechanical strength, thus chemical cross-linking agents are necessary to improve these properties [ 118 ]. CMC has been cross-linked with metal ions whereby Liu et al manufactured a self-recoverable, anti-fatigued, and self-healing poly (N-acryloyl glycinamide) (PNAGA)/CMC hydrogel using Fe 3+ ions cross-linked CMC and hydrogen bonds cross-linked PNAGA as the first and second network, respectively [ 117 ].…”

A Review of Applications Using Mixed Materials of Cellulose, Nanocellulose and Carbon Nanotubes

“…These aerogels are considered promising materials for the development of supercapacitors for flexible energy storage [77][78][79][80][81], optical devices [82], thermoelectric devices [83], and adsorbents to address the problems arising from oil compound spills because these materials have excellent mechanical properties and electrochemical performance and they can selectively adsorb organic compounds. Several approaches have been proposed for manufacturing these aerogels [84][85][86]. For example, Xu et al reported a new approach to producing a CNF-MWNT aerogel using bamboo powder of a raw material by a simple dipping and carbonization process.…”

“…Long et al prepared aerogels with excellent mechanical properties using carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) as a raw material and carboxyl CNTs as reinforcements and investigated the surface morphology, specific surface area, compression modulus, density, and adsorption capacity of these materials for various oils, as shown in Figure 4. It was found that aerogels prepared with a mass fraction of CNTs exhibited an increased adsorption capacity for highly viscous liquids [84]. On the other hand, there has also been research on the deformation mechanism of aerogels in order to progress the material design of these aerogels.…”

Elastic Recovery Properties of Ultralight Carbon Nanotube/Carboxymethyl Cellulose Composites

“…Single-walled CNTs facilitate the fabrication of materials in the density range approaching air density due to their high aspect ratio and mechanical properties [ 22 ]. CMC was used as dispersant [ 32 , 33 ]. Since CMC have OH groups in their structure, they can form hydrogen bonds with the oxygen-containing functional groups present at the ends of CNTs, thus allowing CNTs to be well dispersed in water.…”