Silkworm excrement is a very useful biomass waste, composed
of
layer-structured fats and proteins, which are great precursors for
carbon composite materials. In this work, new porous composites derived
from silkworm excrement were prepared for selective separation of
flavor 4-methylanisole from the binary 4-methylanisole/4-anisaldehyde
mixture. In particular, the silkworm excrement, possessing a unique
nanosheet structure, is converted into a graphite-like carbon by a
simple calcination strategy followed by a metal-ion-doping procedure.
This Fe@C composite exhibits a special nano-spongy morphology, anchoring
Fe3C/Fe5C2 on the carbon nanosheets.
Density functional theory simulations showed that 4-methylanisole
presents a stronger π–π interaction and attraction
forces with sp2 carbon nanosheets in Fe@C composites than
4-anisaldehyde. The selective adsorption experiments further confirmed
that the Fe@C composites exhibited a 4-methylanisole capacity of 7.3
mmol/g at 298 K and the highest selectivity of 17 for an equimolar
4-methylanisole/4-anisaldehyde mixture among the examined adsorbents
including MOFs and commercial activated carbon materials, which demonstrates
the potential of this low-cost and eco-friendly porous carbon material
as a promising sustainable adsorbent.