For many environmental challenges, from oil spill cleanup to nuclear waste remediation, the remediation process can often create new problems, as the waste generated from the use of adsorbent materials becomes a new hazard. Non-renewable adsorbents – in both senses of the word, describing their production from raw ingredients and in terms of their reusability – can create crises as large as those they intended to solve. In this presentation, we outline the development of nanocomposites derived from cellulose, a renewable and benign material, for a diverse array of environmental applications.<br/><br/>Through the combination of cellulose, a material with hierarchical porosity, and nanomaterial coatings including metal oxides, carbonaceous materials, and ion-exchange resins, among others, composite membranes can be tailored for particular environmental remediation challenges. We will also discuss the potential to design cellulose sponges with embedded nanomaterials, and with conductivity to allow for in-situ biasing of sponges for targeted removal of particular analytes. Our lab has developed scalable, water-based processes for production of these sorts of adsorbents and their coatings. This presentation will discuss the application-oriented development of these sponge membranes for heavy metal remediation and recovery, as well as illustrative case studies of our group’s research of these materials for phosphate and nutrient remediation, oil spill cleanup, microplastics, and even carbon capture!<br/><br/>More broadly, this talk will touch on the use of cellulose, from cradle to grave, as a platform material for unlocking the environmentally-relevant properties of nanomaterials. It will incorporate multiple themes from this symposium, from the synthesis of cellulose-based composite materials to remediation of contaminants in the water/air/soil nexus. Moreover, this presentation will elucidate methods of characterizing these materials and their interactions with contaminants at the nanoscale.

Cellulose-based nanocomposite sponge membranes for environmental challenges: A holistic approach

ACS Spring 2022

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