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Green fabrication of flexible aerogels from polypropylene fibers for heat insulation and oil/water separation

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Abstract

For the first time, hydrophobic polymer-based aerogels have been developed from polypropylene fibers for heat insulation and oil spill treatments. By physically cross-linking polypropylene fibers with non-toxic polyvinyl alcohol and carboxymethyl cellulose, followed by eco-friendly freeze–drying method, the fabricated aerogels exhibit an extremely low density of 0.024–0.054 g/cm3 and a high porosity of 94.71–97.82%. The developed polypropylene aerogels express excellent flexibility and good heat insulation with remarkably low compressive modulus and thermal conductivity of 27.54–58.58 kPa and 0.036–0.039 W/m.K, respectively. Experimental results have demonstrated that methyltrimethoxysilane-coated PP aerogels have great water repellency with a water contact angle of 123.5–133.8°. Therefore, they show a good maximum absorption capacity of 12.9–27.3 g/g for fuel oil, 10.2–24.5 g/g for 5w30 motor oil, and 10.2–23.5 g/g for diesel oil; these good characteristics are attributed to their porous hollow structure. Moreover, the oil absorption of polypropylene aerogels in this work is 5 times better than that of the previous one and equivalent to that of commercial absorbents and other polymer aerogels from plastics.

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Funding

This research is funded by Centre Asiatique de Recherche sur l’Eau under grant number TC-KTHH-2019-04. We acknowledge the support of time and facilities from Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HCMUT), VNU-HCM for this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HCMUT), 268 Ly Thuong Kiet Street, District 10, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

    Nga H. N. Do, Thien H. Nguyen, Bong T. Pham, Son T. Nguyen & Phung K. Le

  2. Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City, Linh Trung Ward, Thu Duc District, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

    Nga H. N. Do, Thien H. Nguyen, Bong T. Pham, Son T. Nguyen & Phung K. Le

  3. Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Phuc T. T. Nguyen & Hai M. Duong

Authors
  1. Nga H. N. Do
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  2. Thien H. Nguyen
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  3. Bong T. Pham
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  4. Phuc T. T. Nguyen
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  5. Son T. Nguyen
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  6. Hai M. Duong
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  7. Phung K. Le
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Contributions

NHND: Conceptualization, Visualization, Writing—original draft. THN: Methodology, Investigation. BTP: Formal analysis, Data curation. PTTN: Formal analysis, Characterization. STN: Validation, Writing—review & editing. HMD: Validation, Writing—review & editing. PKL: Writing—review & editing, Funding acquisition, Project administration.

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Correspondence to Phung K. Le.

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Do, N.H.N., Nguyen, T.H., Pham, B.T. et al. Green fabrication of flexible aerogels from polypropylene fibers for heat insulation and oil/water separation. J Porous Mater 28, 617–627 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10934-020-01022-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10934-020-01022-8

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