Because of the severe risk of oil pollution and increasing concerns about the sustainability of sorbent materials, there are considerable interests across the world to develop cost-effective, reusable, and environmentally friendly oil sorbents derived from renewable resources. Nanocellulose is a new family of promising cellulosic materials with a cellulose fibril width in the order of nanometer range (i.e., 2−100 nm). As a class of newly developed cellulose aerogels, nanocellulosederived ones combine intriguing interconnected three-dimensional porous characteristics of aerogel-type materials such as high porosity, large surface area, and low density with fascinating advantages related to naturally occurring nanocellulose: impressive mechanical properties, abundant sources, natural renewability, excellent biodegradability, and ease to surface modification. Therefore, nanocellulose-based aerogels are very ideal "green" oil sorbents after either appropriate hydrophobic modifications or carbonization. This present review summarizes the state-of-the-art in the aerogel-type oil sorbents derived from nanocellulose, including hydrophobized nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC)-based aerogels, hydrophobized bacterial cellulose (BC)-based ones, and the carbon ones prepared through the pyrolysis NFC or BC aerogels. Their respective preparation methods, structure, and oil-absorption performance are summarized. And the existing problems in the current research and the future development perspectives are also presented.

Developing an easily recyclable and reusable biosorbent for highly efficient removal of very toxic Hg­(II) ions from bodies of water is of special significance. Herein, a thiol-functionalized nanocellulose aerogel-type adsorbent for the highly efficient capture of Hg­(II) ions was fabricated through a facile freeze-drying of bamboo-derived 2,2,6,6-tetra­methyl­piperidine-1-oxyl (TEMPO) oxidized nanofibrillated cellulose (TO-NFC) suspension in the presence of hydrolyzed 3-mercapto­propyl-trimethoxy­silane (MPTs) sols. Notably, the modified aerogel was able to effectively and selectively remove more than 92% Hg­(II) ions even in a wide range of Hg­(II) concentrations (0.01–85 mg/L) or coexistence with other heavy metals. Besides, the adsorption capacity of the aerogel was not compromised much by the variation in pH values of Hg­(II) solutions over a wide pH range. The fitting results of adsorption models suggested the monolayer adsorption and chemisorptive characteristics with the maximal uptake capacity as high as 718.5 mg/g. The adsorption mechanism of the MPTs-modified TO-NFC aerogel toward Hg­(II) was studied in detail. For the simulated chloralkali wastewater containing Hg­(II) ions, the novel aerogel-type adsorbent exhibited a removal efficiency of 97.8%. Furthermore, its adsorption capacity for Hg­(II) was not apparently deteriorated after four adsorption/desorption cycles while almost maintaining the original structural integrity.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Self-integrated adsorption/photo-degradation of methyl orange dye.

No abstract

No abstract