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Preparation of nanocellulose aerogel and its adsorption properties: a review
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This review systematically covers preparation techniques for nanocellulose aerogels — highly porous, biodegradable materials derived from cellulose — and catalogues their adsorption performance for dye removal, heavy metal capture, oil-water separation, and microplastic removal from water. Nanocellulose aerogels represent a promising sustainable sorbent technology for removing microplastics from contaminated water, leveraging renewable materials rather than synthetic polymer-based sorbents.
In recent years, nanocellulose has emerged as an ideal raw material for aerogel preparation because of its abundant availability, cost-effectiveness, and excellent biodegradability. Importantly, nanocellulose aerogels fabricated by physical or chemical methods exhibit unique three-dimensional network structures, high porosity (silimar to 99%), high specific surface areas (100-300m2/g), low densities (1-500mg/cm3), and exceptional adsorption properties. Additionally, the outstanding sustainability, biocompatibility, and degradability exhibited by such materials have attracted widespread attention from the viewpoint of environmental protection. In this review, the preparation techniques for nanocellulose aerogels are systematically summarized, with a particular focus on their adsorption mechanisms and performances. The preparation process is divided into four main steps: the preparation of nanocellulose, gelation of nanocellulose, solvent replacement of nanocellulose wet gel, and drying of nanocellulose wet aerogel. Furthermore, recent research progress in the field of nanocellulose aerogels for dye adsorption, oil–water separation, heavy metal ion adsorption, carbon dioxide adsorption and antibiotics and microplastics is comprehensively elaborated to provide theoretical references for the application of nanocellulose aerogels in the field of environmental pollution control.
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When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.