Modified carboxymethyl cellulose nanocrystalline imprinted aerogels with three-dimensional interoperable pore structure for selective adsorption of gadolinium

Abstract

Rare earth elements are widely exploited with the deepening of the dual carbon strategy, and it becomes especially important to recover residual rare earth elements as a strategic resource. In the present experiments, we have found that silk gliadin has a variety of strongly polar side chains that allow easy cross-linking, copolymerization and blending with other polymers, and in addition we have found that sodium alginate can form honeycomb-like porous structures at certain ratios. Therefore, it is proposed to use silk glue protein and sodium alginate as precursors to functionalize modified cellulose nanocrystals, combined with ion imprinting technique to construct porous imprinted aerogels and apply them to the selective adsorption of gadolinium ions. The successful synthesis of the material was demonstrated by relevant characterization, and the results of static adsorption experiments showed that the maximum adsorption capacity was 93.41 mg g− 1 at pH = 7.0. Sodium alginate provides a stable honeycomb 3D structure and silk gum provides a large number of adsorption sites, providing a viable direction for green porous sustainable adsorbent materials.