Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China.
Molecular Sciences & Nanotechnology, Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, LA 71272, United States.
Int J Biol Macromol. 2019 Jul 1;132:406-415. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2019.03.219. Epub 2019 Mar 29.
A high-performance oil-water separation device that built by environment-friendly materials is a promising strategy to solve water pollution problem. In this study, we developed an oil-water separation system with chitin/halloysite nanotubes (C/HNTs) composites. C/HNTs were crosslinked by epichlorohydrin and freeze-dried, then a porous sponge was formed. The C/HNTs sponge was modified to be hydrophobic via immersing into bromohexadecane ethanol solution. The surface structure, mechanical properties, microstructure, oil absorption and oil-water separation ability of the C/HNTs sponge were investigated. The addition of HNTs significantly increased the compressive strength of chitin sponge without influence on porous structure. IR spectra indicated the successful coating of bromohexadecane on the C/HNTs sponge surface, which enabled the hydrophobicity and lipophilicity of this construct. The inside construct of the C/HNTs sponges were full of interconnected pores, and the pore size ranged from 250 to 500 μm. The absorption capability for various oil and grease were measured, including methylbenzene, sunflower seed oil, carbon dichloride, n-hexane, chloroform and acetone. It is found that the total amount of chloroform absorbed by a C/HNTs sponge was ~11.23 times of the sponge's weight, and the absorption for hexane was ~3.94 times of the sponge's weight. The sponge also exhibited an excellent oil-water separation ability with as high as 98.7% separation efficiency. All the results suggested that the chitin/HNTs sponges with improved mechanical property would have a great potential in oil-water separation.
一种由环保材料构建的高性能油水分离装置是解决水污染问题的一种很有前途的策略。在本研究中，我们开发了一种具有甲壳素/纳米管（C/HNTs）复合材料的油水分离系统。C/HNTs 用表氯醇交联并冷冻干燥，然后形成多孔海绵。通过浸入溴代十六烷乙醇溶液将 C/HNTs 海绵改性为疏水性。研究了 C/HNTs 海绵的表面结构、力学性能、微观结构、吸油和油水分离能力。HNTs 的添加显著提高了壳聚糖海绵的抗压强度，而不影响多孔结构。IR 光谱表明溴代十六烷已成功涂覆在 C/HNTs 海绵表面，使该结构具有疏水性和亲油性。C/HNTs 海绵的内部结构充满了相互连接的孔，孔径范围为 250 至 500 µm。测量了各种油和油脂的吸收能力，包括苯、葵花籽油、二氯甲烷、正己烷、氯仿和丙酮。结果发现，C/HNTs 海绵吸收的氯仿总量约为海绵重量的 11.23 倍，吸收的正己烷约为海绵重量的 3.94 倍。该海绵还表现出优异的油水分离能力，分离效率高达 98.7%。所有结果表明，具有改善力学性能的甲壳素/HNTs 海绵在油水分离方面具有很大的潜力。
