Issue 31, 2022

Chemical upcycling of polylactide (PLA) and its use in fabricating PLA-based super-hydrophobic and oleophilic electrospun nanofibers for oil absorption and oil/water separation

Abstract

Biodegradable polylactide (PLA) is a promising alternative to conventional plastics. Although the material is degradable, a process for converting its post-consumer products to other value-added products is of interest. In this work, PLA-based nanofibers with a super-hydrophobic property are developed by using the chemical recycling products of PLA as an additive. An alcoholysis with glycerol was employed to generate glycerolized PLA (gPLA), i.e., hydroxyl-capped lactate oligomers with tunable structures. The materials were then used as OH-templates for reacting with a hydrophobic agent, alkyl ketene dimer (AKD). The PLA/gPLA blends were fabricated by electrospinning, whose surfaces were modified by directly adding AKD or dipping them into an AKD solution to enhance their surface hydrophobicity. The resulting super-hydrophobic and oleophilic nanofibers exhibited a high oil absorption rate and capacity (lubricant, diesel, and cooking oil), with the reusability of more than 10 cycles. The materials also showed high oil/water separation performance for practical use in the oil decontamination process. After application, the materials are designed to be re-utilized by a similar chemical recycling process to achieve the circularity of materials.

Graphical abstract: Chemical upcycling of polylactide (PLA) and its use in fabricating PLA-based super-hydrophobic and oleophilic electrospun nanofibers for oil absorption and oil/water separation

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
03 Jun 2022
Accepted
08 Jul 2022
First published
18 Jul 2022

New J. Chem., 2022,46, 14933-14943

Chemical upcycling of polylactide (PLA) and its use in fabricating PLA-based super-hydrophobic and oleophilic electrospun nanofibers for oil absorption and oil/water separation

C. Eang, B. Nim, P. Sreearunothai, A. Petchsuk and P. Opaprakasit, New J. Chem., 2022, 46, 14933 DOI: 10.1039/D2NJ02747J

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