Regenerated cellulose as template for in-situ synthesis of monoclinic titanium dioxide nanocomposite carbon aerogel towards multiple application in water treatment

• Published in: Journal of colloid and interface science Vol. 630; pp. 772 - 782
• Main Authors: Zhu, Jin-Long, Chen, Shi-Peng, Ma, Guo-Qi, Ren, Jia-Xin, Li, Hai-Long, Lin, Wei, Huang, Hua-Dong, Li, Zhong-Ming
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Inc 15.01.2023
• Subjects: Carbon aerogel; Monoclinic titanium dioxide; Oil absorption; Organic dye adsorption; Tetracycline degradation; Tetracycline degradation; Oil absorption; Carbon aerogel; Monoclinic titanium dioxide; Organic dye adsorption
• ISSN: 0021-9797; 1095-7103; 1095-7103
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2022.10.085

[Display omitted] Immobilizing catalyst system faces the challenge of balancing catalysts stability and exposure of active site in water treatment. In this study, a novel in-situ synthesis of monoclinic phase of titanium dioxide (TiO2(B)) in cellulose-derived carbon aerogel (TCA) is proposed for processing multi-task in water treatment. The homogeneous gelation reaction supported the high dispersion of TiO2(B) in carbon skeleton. Meanwhile, TiO2 acts as crosslinker to reinforce cellulose network, then the grain refinement of amorphous TiO2 is limited to obtain TiO2(B) during carbonization. Benefiting from the reinforced structure, TCA remains the porous structure after carbonization and exposes more adsorption site than carbon aerogel blended with anatase particles (ACA). The adsorption performance of TCA are 837.3 mg/g, 1156.2 mg/g and 512.6 mg/g on methylene blue, malachite green and crystal violet, respectively. Compared with ACA, the superior interaction between TiO2 and graphite-like carbon improves the degradation rate of tetracycline from 1.3 × 10–3 min−1 to 8.6 × 10–3 min−1, and maintains the degradation efficiency in 3 rounds cyclic test. Besides, TCA also exhibits nearly twice to ACA on absorption capacity of different oil. This facile in-situ synthesis method offers a new insight in fabricating carbon aerogel immobilized photocatalysts system for multi-task in water treatment.