Pickering emulsion templated strategy in composite aerogels with hierarchical porous structure improves thermal insulation and diphenylamine adsorption

Abstract

A facile Pickering emulsion templated approach is used to achieve nanocelluloses (NCs)/poly(aryl ether ketone) (PAEK) composite aerogels with low density and hierarchical porous structure. In this article, we evaluate the factors including water-oil volume ratio, PAEK loading and NCs species to unravel the impact of fiber morphology on the formation and properties of the Pickering emulsions and aerogels. The results show both cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) and microfibrous cellulose (MFC) display excellent performance in stabilizing Pickering emulsions. Besides, the NCs/PAEK composite aerogels reveal a nanonet constructed porous network with excellent properties of thermal insulation. The lowest thermal conductivity of 17.8 mWÁm À1 ÁK À1 is obtained for the CNF/PAEK composite aerogel. To our knowledge, this is one of the most efficient thermal insulators in the reported NCs-based aerogels. Additionally, the NCs/PAEK composite aerogels demonstrate an efficiency of 98.1% in diphenylamine adsorption of water. These findings reveal a potential application of NCs/PAEK composite aerogels in adsorbent and thermal insulators in chemical industries and the construction sector.

Facile Fabrication of Superelastic, Hydrophobic, and Hierarchical Polydimethylsiloxane@nanocelluloses Aerogels for Durable Oil/Water Separation

“…A higher Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area and smaller pore size are observed for H-PDMS@TOCNF (11.7 m 2 g −1 , 8.7 nm) than H-PDMS@CNF (1.6 m 2 g −1 , 9.1 nm), and X-PDMS@CNF (3.8 m 2 g −1 , 12.7 nm), indicating small void volume fraction as observed in the SEM images. [44] The density and porosity of these aerogels are consistent with data observed in aerogels prepared from Pickering emulsion route, [49] but higher than those from other strategies. [48]…”

“…Herein, we proposed a facile Pickering emulsion [ 49 ] templated method to construct superelastic, hydrophobic, and hierarchical NCs‐based aerogels ( Figure ). The composite aerogels were produced through the hydrosilylation and dehydrogenation of hydrogen silicone oil, vinyl silicone oil, and NCs.…”

Cu and Ni dual-doped ZnO nanostructures templated by cellulose nanofibrils for the boosted visible-light photocatalytic degradation of wastewater pollutants

“…Wastewater pollution from organic dyes threatens freshwater supply and human health. Therefore, many water remediation technologies, such as physical adsorption, 1,2 membrane separation, 3,4 oxidation/hydrogenation degradation, 5 and biodegradation, 6 have been developed to augment clean water production. The advanced oxidation process (AOP) using photocatalysts is one of the most important technologies since it degrades many complex organic compounds.…”

Superhydrophobic tough hierarchical porous thermal insulation composites prepared by in situ formation of silica aerogel in collagen fiber matrix

“…At present, the application of advanced materials in the fields of thermal insulation and packing, including inorganic polymer thermal insulation board, foamed polyurethane and aerogel, has been considered as an effective strategy to reduce energy consumption and maintain optimal thermal conditions 1,2 . Especially, aerogels with low density, high porosity, low thermal conductivity, and unique structure have been widely used in thermal insulation and sound insulation materials, adsorbents, catalysts, sensors, and so forth 3–7 . Generally, aerogels can be divided into organic polymer aerogels and inorganic aerogels 8 .…”

“…1,2 Especially, aerogels with low density, high porosity, low thermal conductivity, and unique structure have been widely used in thermal insulation and sound insulation materials, adsorbents, catalysts, sensors, and so forth. [3][4][5][6][7] Generally, aerogels can be divided into organic polymer aerogels and inorganic aerogels. 8 However, the use of the former has its inherent limitations, such as poor flame retardancy, strong dependence for petroleum resources, non-negligible possible pollution during production process and highcomprehensive cost.…”