Reusable graphitic carbon nitride nanosheet-based aerogels as sorbents for oils and organic solvents

• Main Authors: Song, Pin, Wang, Meiling, Di, Jun, Xiong, Jun, Zhao, Sirui, Li, Zheng
• Other Authors: School of Materials Science and Engineering
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2021
• Subjects: Engineering::Materials; g-C₃N₄/PVA Aerogel; High Porosity
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/154645
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Increasing oily wastewater and frequent oil leakage accidents have become a serious global environmental problem. To improve the adsorption capacity and simplify the recovery process of crude oil, it is a great significance to develop various advanced oil adsorbents and oil-collecting devices. In this work, a lightweight and compressible three-dimensional (3D) g-C3N4/poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) nanosheet-based aerogel was successfully fabricated. The resulting 3D g-C3N4/PVA nanosheet-based aerogel has the advantages of high porosity and good hydrophobicity, making it a suitable material for use as an adsorbent. The 3D g-C3N4/PVA nanosheet-based aerogel can absorb various oils and organic solvents as high as 228-695 times its weight. Moreover, aerogel regeneration and recovery of oil can be achieved by cyclic distillation, squeezing, or combustion. After 40 cycles, the structure of 3D g-C3N4/PVA nanosheet-based aerogels are well kept and the adsorption capacity still retained 95, 93, and 95% by distillation, squeezing, and combustion, respectively. 3D g-C3N4/PVA nanosheet-based aerogel as an adsorbent has great potential in the application of oil/water separation for the removal of pollutants.