Facile Fabrication of Superelastic, Hydrophobic, and Hierarchical Polydimethylsiloxane@nanocelluloses Aerogels for Durable Oil/Water Separation

Abstract

AbstractNanocelluloses (NCs)‐based aerogels have gradually attracted attention due to their excellent performance in oil recovery for mitigating environmental pollution caused by oil spillages. However, hydrophobicity due to polyhydroxy groups and fragile in water, as well as a complicated fabricating process, significantly restrict their practical applications. Herein, a facile route is reported to fabricate superelastic polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)@NCs aerogels through a Pickering emulsion strategy. The hierarchical PDMS@NCs aerogels exhibit function‐dependent porous structures and integrated properties of hydrophobicity and lipophilicity, stemming from the synergistic effect of the hydrophobic skin layer and porous matrix. The resulting aerogels are capable of continuous oil/water filtration by adsorption‐extrusion with a flux up to 4300 L m−2 h−1 and a separation efficiency of 99.9%. Therefore, this provides a new route for the rational design of morphology‐tunable NCs‐based aerogels and affords a reference for its practical application in durable oil/water separation.