Porous materials fabricated from Pickering foams stabilized by natural plant of Angelica sinensis for removal of Cd (II) and Cu (II)

The emulsion or foam templating applied in the preparation of porous materials have been widely studied. As the enhancement of the green and environmental protection awareness in preparation process, the stabilization of the emulsion or foam with the natural matter has been attracted extensive attention. In this work, a high stable Pickering water-based foams was stabilized by the natural plant Angelica sinensis, and a novel porous material of Polyacrylic acid-Angelica sinensis (PAA-AS) was fabricated from the Pickering foam via a thermally-initiated polymerization. Duo to the amphiphilic organic molecules was rich in AS, such as phenolic acids, saponins, etc., the water-based foam can be stabilized by the AS particles alone. The as-prepared porous materials had sufficient pore structure, and the pore size could be controlled by changing the dosage of AS. PAA-AS was applied to remove heavy metal ions from water, and the adsorption capacities for Cd2+ and Cu2+ could be reached to 372.74 mg/g and 186.83 mg/g, respectively. In brief, this research provided a new approach to prepare environmentally friendly porous materials, and the materials has the applications potential in water treatment.