Cellulose aerogels from cellulose–NaOH/PEG solution and comparison with different cellulose contents

Abstract

A green mild NaOH/polyethylene glycol solution was employed to dissolve the cellulose extracted from waste wheat straw. Subsequently combined with the freezing−thawing treatment, regeneration process and freeze drying, the cellulose aerogels with different cellulose contents were fabricated at mass ratios of 1∶100, 3∶100, 5∶100 and 7∶100 cellulose to the solution. Moreover, the influences of cellulose contents on the morphologies, crystal structures, crystallinity indexes, thermal stabilities and pore characteristic parameters of the aerogels were investigated by scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis and nitrogen adsorption. Meanwhile, the oil adsorption properties of the aerogels with different cellulose contents were also surveyed; besides, for improving lipophilicity, the hydrophobic modifications of trimethylchlorosilane for the aerogels were carried out before the adsorption tests.

Keywords:

• Cellulose aerogels
• NaOH/PEG solution
• oil adsorption
• freeze drying
• polymers

Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 31270590), a project funded by the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (no. 2013M540263) and the Doctoral Candidate Innovation Research Support Program of Science & Technology Review (no. kjdb2012006).