BACKGROUND: Oil spills from oil tankers and ships or industrial accidents have serious impacts on the ecological environment.There is an urgent need for finding effective ways to resolve these problems. The use of low-cost and efficient adsorbents is considered to be one of the most effective ways. RESULTS: In this study, an ultra-light 3D kapok fiber-reduced graphene oxide (TKF-rGO) aerogel was prepared by a simple and green one-step hydrothermal method. The kapok fiber used as skeleton was embedded in a graphene network to successfully form a 3D aerogel structure. The as-prepared TKF-rGO aerogel featured low density, excellent mechanical strength, high thermal stability, and high hydrophobic lipophilicity. Furthermore, continuous oil-water separation could be achieved by the aerogel when connected to a vacuum system. The adsorption capacity of TKF-rGO aerogel for various common oil products and organic solvents was 1.5-fold greater than that of pure rGO aerogel and six-fold greater than that of polypropylene melt spray, respectively. In addition, the initial adsorption capacity of the as-prepared TKF-rGO aerogel was maintained at 94% after eight cycles.CONCLUSION: The TKF-rGO aerogel could be synthesized by a low-cost and green method, which was suitable for commercial production, and showed competitive adsorption capacities for oil removal. Thus, the TKF-rGO aerogel is expected to be employed as a promising adsorbent in the removal of oil spill or hazardous organic solvents from water.
Nowadays, the harm caused by the leakage of oil and dangerous organic solvents to the ecological environment and human health cannot be ignored, and effective treatment measures are urgently needed to alleviate the current situation. Therefore, the development of low-cost and efficient adsorbents is the key to solve the problem. In this paper, konjac glucomannan was used as flexible skeleton. Flexible aerogel based on an interpenetrating network of konjac glucomannan and reduced graphene oxide was prepared by two-step hydrothermal method. On this basis, the composite aerogel was superhydrophobically modified to improve its adsorption selectivity. A series of characterization results showed that the adsorbent had flexible three-dimensional porous structure, excellent mechanical properties, adsorption selectivity, recyclability and biodegradability. At the same time, the composite aerogel synthesized by a simple and environmentally friendly method could realize the continuous separation of oil and water by vacuum pump. It showed that its application in the field of high-efficiency oil-water separation had a broad prospect.
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