Laboratory for Cellulose & Wood Materials, Empa─Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Lerchenfeldstrasse 5, 9014 St. Gallen, Switzerland.
Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, ETH Zurich, Stefano-Franscini Platz 5, Postfach 193, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland.
Biomacromolecules. 2021 Nov 8;22(11):4681-4690. doi: 10.1021/acs.biomac.1c00942. Epub 2021 Oct 25.
In recent years, water pollution has developed into a severe environmental and public health problem due to rapid urbanization and industrialization, especially in some developing countries. Finding solutions to tackle water pollution is urgently required and is of global importance. Currently, a range of water treatment methods are available; however, a water remediation process that is simple, inexpensive, eco-friendly, and effective for the removal of pollutants down to ppm/ppb concentrations has long been sought after. Herein, we describe a novel approach using fungal melanin for developing melanized-cationic cellulose nanofiber (melanized-C-CNF) foams that can successfully remove pollutants in water systems. The foam can be recycled several times while retaining its adsorption/desorption property, indicating high practicability for adsorbing the cationic dye crystal violet. This work highlights the opportunity to combine both the advanced features of sustainable polymers such as cellulose and the unique properties of fungal melanin to manufacture biohybrid composites for water purification.
近年来，由于城市化和工业化的快速发展，水污染已经成为一个严重的环境和公共卫生问题，尤其是在一些发展中国家。寻找解决水污染的方法迫在眉睫，这具有全球重要性。目前，有多种水处理方法可用；然而，人们一直以来都在寻求一种简单、廉价、环保且有效的水修复工艺，能够将污染物去除到 ppm/ppb 浓度。在此，我们描述了一种使用真菌黑色素开发黑色素化阳离子纤维素纳米纤维（melanized-C-CNF）泡沫的新方法，该方法可成功去除水系统中的污染物。这种泡沫可以回收多次，同时保留其吸附/解吸性能，表明其对阳离子染料结晶紫的吸附具有很高的实用性。这项工作突出了将纤维素等可持续聚合物的先进特性与真菌黑色素的独特特性相结合，制造用于水净化的生物杂化复合材料的机会。
