Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Carbon aerogel from waste corrugated cardboard: Facile preparation, characterization, and application to solar steam generation and adsorption

  • Energy
  • Published:
Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Carbon aerogel (CASol-Ads) was prepared from waste corrugated cardboard (WCC) by using a green and facile strategy and it was explored as an all-in-one solar evaporator and a floatable absorbent. Thermal conversion of carbon precursor was investigated using thermogravimetric analyzer coupled with Fourier transform infrared spectrometer. The amorphous carbon aerogel was made up of criss-crossing carbon ribbons and it had a typical micromesoporous structure and a specific surface area of 575 m2 g−1. It exhibited remarkable optical absorption over 81.8% in the UV and Vis regions and over 70% in the NIR region. The surface temperature of dry CASol-Ads can achieve 77.9 °C under 1 kW m−2 irradiation. The hydrophilic 3D network structure of CASol-Ads provides a large volume for the storage of liquids; thus, the carbon aerogel was able to store as much as 13.4 times its own weight in water. Solar-driven evaporation rate over CASol-Ads saturated with water was calculated to be 1.68 kg m−2 h−1, which was 4.5 times the value achieved with bare water under 1 kW m−2 irradiation. The adsorption behavior of CASol-Ads for methylene blue (MB) fitted the Langmuir isotherm model with the maximum monolayer adsorption capacity of 108 mg g−1. The monolithic CASol-Ads can be used as a self-floating absorbent for the adsorption of MB from water, and the adsorption kinetics followed pseudo-second-order kinetics model.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Y. Liu, T. Shi, T. Zhang, D. Yuan, Y. Peng and F. Qiu, Cellulose, 26, 5381 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. S. Long, Y. Feng, F. He, S. He, H. Hong, X. Yang, L. Zheng, J. Liu, L. Gan and M. Long, Carbon, 158, 137 (2020).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. H. Zhuo, Y. Hu, Z. Chen, X. Peng, H. Lai, L. Liu, Q. Liu, C. Liu and L. Zhong, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 8, 11921 (2020).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. H. Wang, A. Du, X. Ji, C. Zhang, B. Zhou, Z. Zhang and J. Shen, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 11, 42057 (2019).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. L. Li, T. Hu, A. Li and J. Zhang, ACS Appl. Mater, Interfaces, 12, 32143 (2020).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Z. Huang, Y. Wan, J. Liang, Y. Xiao, X. Li, X. Cui, S. Tian, Q. Zhao, S. Li and C. S. Lee, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 13, 31624 (2021).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. P. Mu, Z. Zhang, W. Bai, J. He, H. Sun, Z. Zhu, W. Liang and A. Li, Adv. Energy Mate., 9, 1802158 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. C. Chen, Y. Kuang and L. Hu, Joule, 3, 683 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. P. Wang, Environ. Sci.: Nano, 5, 1078 (2018).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Y. Fu, G. Wang, T. Mei, J. Li, J. Wang and X. Wang, ACS Sustain. Chem. Eng., 5, 4665 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. X. Deng, Q. Nie, Y. Wu, H. Fang, P. Zhang and Y. Xie, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 12, 26200 (2020).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. S. Zhai, R. Chen, J. Liu, J. Xu and H. Jiang, J. Taiwan Inst. Chem. E, 120, 161 (2021).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. X. Jiang, X. Xiang, S. Peng and L. Hou, Cellulose, 26, 4515 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. C. Wang, S. Yang, Q. Ma, X. Jia and P.-C. Ma, Carbon, 118, 765 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. M. Zhang, B. Gao, X. Cao and L. Yang, RSC Adv., 3, 21099 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. S.-J. Yuan, J.-J. Zhang, H.-X. Fan and X.-H. Dai, J. Clean. Prod., 196, 644 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. H. Xu, L. Huang, M. Xu, M. Qi, T. Yi, Q. Mo, H. Zhao, C. Huang, S. Wang and Y. Liu, ACS Omega, 5, 23743 (2020).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  18. F. Sotoudehnia, A. Baba Rabiu, A. Alayat and A.G. McDonald, J. Anal. Appl. Pyrol., 145, 104722 (2020).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Y. Liu, C. Yan, Z. Zhang Y. Gong, H. Wang and X. Qiu, Mater. Lett., 185, 370 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. D. Tian, Z. Xu, D. Zhang, W. Chen, J. Cai, H. Deng, Z. Sun and Y. Zhou, J. Solid State Chem., 269, 580 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. M. A. Islam, S. Sabar, A. Benhouria, W. A. Khanday, M. Asif and B. H. Hameed, J. Taiwan Inst. Chem. E, 74, 96 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Y. Wang, Y. Feng, X. F. Zhang, X. Zhang, J. Jiang and J. Yao, J. Colloid Interface Sci., 514, 190 (2018).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Y. An, H. Zheng, Z. Yu, Y. Sun, Y. Wang, C. Zhao and W. Ding, J. Hazard. Mater., 381, 120971 (2020).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. I. Mian, X. Li, Y. Jian, O. D. Dacres, M. Zhong, J. Liu, F. Ma and N. Rahman, Bioresour. Technol., 294, 122099 (2019).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. G. Ganeshan, K. P. Shadangi and K. Mohanty, J. Therm. Anal. Calorim., 131, 1803 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Y. J. Rueda-Ordonez and K. Tannous, Bioresour. Technol., 196, 136 (2015).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. G. Mishra and T. Bhaskar, Bioresour. Technol., 169, 614 (2014).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. L. Zhang, K. Li and X. Zhu, J. Anal. Appl. Pyrol., 127, 91 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. M. Liu, J. Li and Y. Duan, Energy Convers. Manage., 103, 66 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. W. Chen, S. Shi, J. Zhang, M. Chen and X. Zhou, Energy Convers. Manage., 112, 41 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. W.-L. Wang, X.-Y. Ren, L.-F. Li, J.-M. Chang, L.-P. Cai and J. Geng, Fuel Process Technol., 134, 345 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. X. Yang, Z. Fu, D. Han, Y. Zhao, R. Li and Y. Wu, Renew. Energy, 147, 1120 (2020).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. P. Halder, S. Kundu, S. Patel, R. Parthasarathy, B. Pramanik, J. Paz-Ferreiro and K. Shah, Energy Convers. Manage., 200, 112067 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. X. Yang, Y. Zhao, R. Li, Y. Wu and M. Yang, Thermochim. Acta, 665, 20 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  35. C. Qi, C. Luo, Y. Tao, W. Lv, C. Zhang, Y. Deng, H. Li, J. Han, G. Ling and Q.-H. Yang, Sci. China Mater., 63, 1870 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. S. K. Singh, T. G. Townsend, D. Mazyck and T. H. Boyer, Water Res., 46, 491 (2012).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  37. Y. Jeong, M. Cui, J. Choi, Y. Lee, J. Kim, Y. Son and J. Khim, Chemosphere, 238, 124559 (2020).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. M. Mohsenpour, S. Motahari, F. Tajabadi and M. Najafi, RSC Adv., 10, 41780 (2020).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  39. P. Liu, L. Wang, Y. Zhou, T. Pan, X. Lu and D. Zhang, Fuel., 164, 110 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  40. S. Wang, H. Lin, B. Ru, W. Sun, Y. Wang and Z. Luo, J. Anal. Appl. Pyrol., 108, 78 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  41. C. Song, B. Zhang, L. Hao, J. Min, N. Liu, R. Niu, J. Gong and T. Tang, Green Energy Environ., 7, 411 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. B. Y. Jibril, R. S. Al-Maamari, G. Hegde, N. Al-Mandhary and O. Houache, J. Anal. Appl. Pyrol., 80, 277 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  43. Y. Bai, P. Wang, L. Yan, C. Liu, F. Li and K. Xie, J. Anal. Appl. Pyrol., 104, 202 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  44. S. Secchi, F. Asdrubali, G. Cellai, E. Nannipieri, A. Rotili and I. Vannucchi, J. Build. Eng., 5, 1 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. X. Qi, X. Guo, L. Xue and C. Zheng, J. Anal. Appl. Pyrol., 110, 401 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  46. J. Yan, W. Xiao, L. Chen, Z. Wu, J. Gao and H. Xue, Desalination, 516, 115224 (2021).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  47. L. Sun, J. Liu, Y. Zhao, J. Xu and Y. Li, Carbon, 145, 352 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  48. S. Ma, W. Qarony, M. I. Hossain, C. T. Yip and Y. H. Tsang, Sol. Energ. Mater. Sol. C, 196, 36 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  49. W. Sun, A. Du, Y. Feng, J. Shen, S. Huang, J. Tang and B. Zhou, ACS Nano, 10, 9123 (2016).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  50. H. Bi, X. Huang, X. Wu, X. Cao, C. Tan, Z. Yin, X. Lu, L. Sun and H. Zhang, Small, 10, 3544 (2014).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  51. Y. Meng, T. M. Young, P. Liu, C. I. Contescu, B. Huang and S. Wang, Cellulose, 22, 435 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  52. W. Yuan, C. Hou, X. Zhang, S. Zhong, Z. Luo, D. Mo, Y. Zhang and X. Liu ACS Appl. Mater. Inter., 11, 37626 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  53. S. J. Bao, C. X. Guo and C. M. Li, RSC Adv., 2, 1014 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  54. H. Bi, Z. Yin, X. Cao, X. Xie, C. Tan, X. Huang, B. Chen, F. Chen, Q. Yang, X. Bu, X. Lu, L. Sun and H. Zhang, Adv. Mater., 25, 5916 (2013).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  55. S. Kabiri, D. N. H. Tran, T. Altalhi and D. Losic, Carbon, 80, 523 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  56. Z. Miao, H. Yu, W. Song, D. Zhao, L. Hao, B. Yi and Z. Shao, Electrochem. Commun., 11, 787 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  57. F. Ardeshiri, A. Akbari, M. Peyravi and M. Jahanshahi, Korean J. Chem. Eng., 36, 255 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  58. J. Cui, Z. Zhou, A. Xie, M. Meng, Y. Cui, S. Liu, J. Lu, S. Zhou, Y. Yan and H. Dong, Sep. Purif. Technol., 209, 434 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  59. B. Yuan, C. Zhang, Y. Liang, L. Yang, H. Yang, L. Bai, D. Wei, W. Wang, Q. Wang and H. Chen, Adv. Sustain. Syst., 5, 2000245 (2020).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  60. C. F. Wang, C. L. Wu, S. W. Kuo, W. S. Hung, K. J. Lee, H. C. Tsai, C. J. Chang and J. Y. Lai Sci. Rep.-UK, 10, 12769 (2020).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  61. H. Qiao, B. Zhao, X. Suo, X. Xie, L. Dang, J. Yang and B. Zhang, Glob. Chall., 6, 2100083 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  62. J. Fang, J. Liu, J. Gu, Q. Liu, W. Zhang, H. Su and D. Zhang, Chem. Mater., 30, 6217 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  63. X. Zhou, J. Li, C. Liu, F. Wang, H. Chen, C. Zhao, H. Sun and Z. Zhu, Int. J. Energ. Res., 44, 9213 (2020).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  64. Y. Long, S. Huang, H. Yi, J. Chen, J. Wu, Q. Liao, H. Liang, H. Cui, S. Ruan and Y.-J. Zeng, J. Mater. Chem. A, 7, 26911 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  65. N. Xu, X. Hu, W. Xu, X. Li, L. Zhou, S. Zhu and J. Zhu, Adv. Mater., 29, 1606762 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgement

The author wishes to thank the anonymous reviewers for their useful comments.

Funding

This work was financially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (51909292) and Fundamental Research Funds for Central Public Welfare Scientific Research Institution (K-JBYWF-2021-ZT04).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Institute of Seawater Desalination and Multipurpose Utilization (ISDMU), Ministry of Natural Resources of the People’s Republic of China, Tianjin, 300192, China

    Yuhui Ma

  2. Tianjin Haiyue Water Treatment High-tech Co., Ltd, Tianjin, 300192, China

    Yuhui Ma

Authors
  1. Yuhui Ma
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yuhui Ma.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Ma, Y. Carbon aerogel from waste corrugated cardboard: Facile preparation, characterization, and application to solar steam generation and adsorption. Korean J. Chem. Eng. 39, 1775–1787 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11814-022-1137-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11814-022-1137-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation