Preparation and adsorption properties of cotton linters and coal- gangue-based cellulose/SiO 2 composite aerogels

Abstract

Abstract High-value comprehensive utilization of coal gangue solid waste, reducing synthesis cost and environmental hazards has become an important research direction for green development. In this study, acid-alkali treated coal gangue was used as the silica source, and abundant cotton short staple in Xinjiang was used as the raw material of aerogel. Cellulose/SiO2 composite aerogels were prepared by sol-gel method using N-N methylenebisacrylamide (MBA) as cross-linking agent and hydrochloric acid (HCl) as catalyst. The samples were characterized and analyzed by XRD, SEM, FT-IR, XPS, EDS, BET, and mechanical property tests. The results show that the composites exhibit low density and high porosity. The density ranges from 0.177–0.371 g/cm− 3 with a high porosity of 88.7%. SEM and BET results showed that the composites showed a three-dimensional mesh structure, and the specific surface area was as high as 325.742 m2/g, with a pore size of 21.997nm, which is a mesoporous material. The adsorption performance of the composite aerogel was tested by choosing the dye methylene blue (MB) to simulate wastewater, and the results showed that the adsorption amount of MB was 81.3 mg/g, and the adsorption amount showed a tendency of increasing first and then decreasing with the increase of SiO2. It still showed good adsorption after 5 cycles of adsorption experiments. Therefore, the results of this study provide a good application prospect for composite aerogels and a theoretical basis for the development of low-cost novel advanced materials.