Controllable synthesis of cellulose/methylene bisacrylamide aerogels for enhanced adsorption performance

Abstract Cellulose‐based aerogels have been regarded as potential adsorbent materials because of their unique structural features and chemical stability. Herein, we prepared the composite aerogels containing cellulose and N,N′‐methylene bisacrylamide (MBA) using N‐methylmorpholine‐N‐oxide (NMMO) as a green solvent via a freeze‐drying process. Owing to the strong chemical interaction between CC bonds of MBA and the functional groups of cellulose, as‐obtained cellulose/MBA aerogels present favorable MBA‐induced thermal/mechanical stable three‐dimensional network structure, in which the abundant macroporous structure, low density and high porosity lead to a significantly enhanced adsorption capacity (260.31 mg∙g −1 ) toward congo red dye in aqueous solution compared with the pure cellulose aerogels. Moreover, the effect of the cellulose concentration and cross‐linking degree on the morphology and adsorption properties for cellulose/MBA aerogels was systematically investigated. This present work provides a low‐cost and environmental‐friendly synthesis method for designing the functionalization of cellulose‐based aerogel, which may be achieved the advanced performance in wastewater treatment.