Ultralight and hydrophobic nanofibrillated cellulose aerogels from coconut shell with ultrastrong adsorption properties

Abstract

Ultralight aerogels based on nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC) isolated from coconut shell were successfully prepared via a mild fast method, which included chemical pretreatment, ultrasonic isolation, solvent exchange, and tert‐butanol freeze drying. The as‐prepared NFC aerogels with complex three‐dimensional fibrillar networks had a low bulk density of 0.84 mg/cm3 (specific surface area = 9.1 m2/g and pore volume = 0.025 cm3/g), maintained a cellulose I crystal structure, and showed more superior thermal stability than the coconut shell raw materials. After the hydrophobic modification by methyl trichlorosilane (MTCS), the NFC aerogels exhibited high water repellency properties, an ultrastrong oil‐adsorption capacity (542 times that of the original dry weight of diesel oil), and superior oil–water separation performance. Moreover, the absorption capabilities of the MTCS‐treated NFC aerogels were as high as 296−669 times their own weights for various organic solvents and oil. Thus, this class of high‐performance adsorbing materials might be useful for dealing with chemical leaks and oil spills. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015, 132, 42037.

Poly(urethane-norbornene) Aerogels via Ring Opening Metathesis Polymerization of Dendritic Urethane-Norbornene Monomers: Structure-Property Relationships as a Function of an Aliphatic Versus an Aromatic Core and the Number of Peripheral Norbornene Moieties

“…The effect of the drying method on the properties of the dry-gels was studied with wet-gels of aLNor-12 prepared under identical conditions (monomer concentration at 12% w/w , and molar ratio of GC-I/monomer at 1/50). Three different drying methods were tested: (a) from supercritical fluid (SCF) CO 2 , (b) freeze-drying from t -butanol [ 37 , 38 ], and (c) from pentane at 50 °C under ambient pressure [ 39 ]. The results are presented in Table 3 .…”

Polyaniline–polypyrrole nanocomposites using a green and porous wood as support for supercapacitors

“…As seen in Fig. 3, for the wood support, the wide band at 2990-3720 cm -1 is attributed to the O-H stretching of polymeric compounds, while the bands at 2920 and 2857 cm -1 are derived from the alkane C-H asymmetric and symmetric stretching vibrations [22] , respectively. The band at 1734 cm -1 belongs to the C = O stretching in unconjugated ketone, carbonyl and aliphatic groups (xylan) and the strong band at 1641 cm -1 is due to the bending mode of the absorbed water [23] .…”

Nanofibrillated cellulose composites and wood derived scaffolds for functional materials

“…In this regard, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) has been widely used for hydrophobization of cellulose aerogels. [100][101][102][103][104][105][106] For instance, Cervin et al 100 fabricated highly porous (>99%) NFC aerogels with low density (4-14 mg cm À3 ) and high specic surface area (11-42 m 2 g À1 ) by freeze-drying aqueous dispersions of NFCs. The density and pore size distribution of the aerogels can be tuned by the solid content of nanobrils in the NFC dispersions.…”