Center for Advanced Materials, Qatar University, P.O. Box 2713, Doha 2713, Qatar.
Biomolecules. 2020 Dec 3;10(12):1632. doi: 10.3390/biom10121632.
Environmental remediation using green approaches for addressing various pollution-related issues, especially water pollution, is in high demand. Here, we designed an environmentally friendly, low-cost, and stable sodium alginate-halloysite clay composite aerogel (SAHA) for oil/water separation via a two-step synthesis procedure, including ionic crosslinking and freeze-drying. The as-prepared SAHA aerogels were characterized in detail by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transformation infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. Characterization of the SAHA aerogels revealed a three-dimensional porous microstructure with uniformly dispersed halloysite nanotubes (HA) within the alginate matrix. The elemental composition of the hydrogels investigated using energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX) revealed the presence of minerals, such as magnesium, sodium, aluminum, and silicon in the SAHA aerogels. The presence of a hydrophilic alginate matrix combined with these unique morphological characteristics resulted in SAHA aerogels with underwater oleophobicity and excellent oil/water separation efficiency (up to 99.7%). The ease of fabrication, excellent oil/water separation, and multiple performances make the SAHA aerogel an interesting candidate for practical applications in water recycling.
采用绿色方法进行环境修复以解决各种与污染相关的问题，特别是水污染，需求量很大。在这里，我们设计了一种环保、低成本、稳定的海藻酸钠-海泡石粘土复合气凝胶（SAHA），通过两步合成工艺，包括离子交联和冷冻干燥，用于油水分离。通过扫描电子显微镜（SEM）、原子力显微镜（AFM）、X 射线衍射（XRD）和傅里叶变换红外（FT-IR）光谱详细表征了所制备的 SAHA 气凝胶。SAHA 气凝胶的表征显示出具有三维多孔微结构，海泡石纳米管（HA）均匀分散在藻酸盐基质中。使用能量色散 X 射线光谱法（EDX）研究水凝胶的元素组成表明，SAHA 气凝胶中存在矿物质，如镁、钠、铝和硅。亲水性藻酸盐基质的存在与这些独特的形态特征相结合，使 SAHA 气凝胶具有水下疏油性和优异的油水分离效率（高达 99.7%）。易于制造、出色的油水分离性能和多种性能使 SAHA 气凝胶成为水再利用实际应用中的一个有趣候选者。
