Issue 7, 2017

Superhydrophobic silica aerogels reinforced with polyacrylonitrile fibers for adsorbing oil from water and oil mixtures

Abstract

Silica aerogels are unique solids with extremely high porosity, transparency and low density. They make excellent adsorbing materials due to their high surface area and three-dimensional reticular structures. However, their fine structures and hydrophilic surfaces make them fragile and impractical for adsorbing oil from water and oil mixtures. To improve their mechanical properties, we incorporate small amounts of polyacrylonitrile fiber into the aerogels, prepared at relatively mild temperatures. Electron microscopy images and pore size distributions of the modified aerogels show that the silica aerogel had a co-continuous porous structure. The aerogels were modified to be superhydrophobic, and the surface hydroxyl or alkoxy groups were converted to stable –CH3 groups with a contact angle as high as 169°. The oil adsorption capacity of the silica aerogels was calculated as 9.56 g/g. The sorption and desorption process could be repeated at least 100 times, indicating that silica aerogels are promising oil-absorbing materials.

Graphical abstract: Superhydrophobic silica aerogels reinforced with polyacrylonitrile fibers for adsorbing oil from water and oil mixtures

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
15 nov. 2016
Accepted
27 dic. 2016
First published
16 ene. 2017
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

RSC Adv., 2017,7, 4039-4045

Superhydrophobic silica aerogels reinforced with polyacrylonitrile fibers for adsorbing oil from water and oil mixtures

M. Shi, C. Tang, X. Yang, J. Zhou, F. Jia, Y. Han and Z. Li, RSC Adv., 2017, 7, 4039 DOI: 10.1039/C6RA26831E

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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