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Cellulose nanospheres coated polylactic acid nonwoven membranes for recyclable use in oil/water separation

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Abstract

Oily wastewater has always been an environmental issue that we are concerned about and committed to managing. Although the superwetting membranes have been extensively studied and widely used in oil/water separation, the abundant discarded membranes are still headaches due to their non-degradable nature. In this work, all-around green material, as well as superhydrophilic polylactic acid (PLA) nonwoven membrane, is designed by coating cellulose nanospheres (CNCs) with the aid of polydopamine (PDA). Plenty of hydroxyl groups and hierarchical rough structure synergistically contribute to the superhydrophilicity and excellent oil/water separation performance of the resultant CNCs/PDA/PLA nonwoven membrane. Interestingly, the efficiency of oil/water separation can be maintained above 98% after 100 times of repeated use. With the outstanding durability and easy controllability, the CNCs/PDA/PLA nonwoven membrane may provide effective solutions to manage the oily wastewater and secondary pollution of the used membrane itself simultaneously.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number LGG21E030013) and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (grant no. 2019 M662111).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Materials and Textiles, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, 310018, People’s Republic of China

    Jun Lu, Jiexiu Wen, Qihao Yu, Chaofan Cui, Juanjuan Su & Jian Han

  2. The Key Lab of Industrial Textile Material and Manufacturing Technology, Hangzhou, 310018, Zhejiang Province, People’s Republic of China

    Juanjuan Su & Jian Han

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  1. Jun Lu
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  2. Jiexiu Wen
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  3. Qihao Yu
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  4. Chaofan Cui
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  5. Juanjuan Su
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  6. Jian Han
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Correspondence to Juanjuan Su or Jian Han.

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Lu, J., Wen, J., Yu, Q. et al. Cellulose nanospheres coated polylactic acid nonwoven membranes for recyclable use in oil/water separation. Cellulose 28, 11417–11427 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-021-04247-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-021-04247-1

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