Xiaowu Jiang

The practical application of superhydrophilic materials for treating emulsified oily wastewater is often hindered by their inadequate mechanical robustness. This study presents a synergistic strategy to fabricate a high‐performance cellulose paper by integrating a polyvinyl alcohol/polyacrylamide double‐network hydrogels with freeze orientation and salt‐induced crystallization. The optimized composite paper achieves a peak stress of ~2.0 MPa, with an elongation at break close to 100%, demonstrating a balance between strength and toughness. For oil‐in‐water emulsions, the material exhibits exceptional separation efficiency (~99%) and a relatively high flux of up to 36 L/(m ² ·h). It also shows outstanding cyclic durability, maintaining a separation efficiency above 98% with only a 19% flux decline after 20 consecutive separation cycles. This work provides an effective solution for developing robust cellulose‐based materials for advanced oily wastewater treatment.

We have successfully developed a superhydrophobic and superoleophilic cellulose paper by in situ formation of polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) blocks on its surface. These POSS blocks endow the cellulose paper with an optimal micro-nano structure and hydrophobic composition, resulting in superhydrophobicity and enhanced abrasion resistance. The modified cellulose paper was characterized using scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersion spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction analysis to confirm the structures. The oil-water separation performance of the as-prepared paper was validated through preferential adsorption and gravity-driven separation processes, demonstrating high separation efficiency and throughput for various oil/water mixtures. This innovative approach provides a promising solution for large-scale oil spill accidents while offering excellent reusability and stability.

The development of eco‐efficient and environmental friendly active anti‐corrosion coatings for metallic substrates represents a fundamental milestone in many engineering applications. Herein, a new type of active corrosion protection coating was successfully synthesized simply based on waterborne polyurethane (WPU) and nanocontainer of Ce³⁺ modified palygorskite (Ce‐PAL). Particularly, the nanocontainer of Ce‐PAL was achieved via a facile and green process by cation exchange in water. Inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP) revealed that Ce³⁺ had successfully incorporated into PAL nanofibers with a loading amount of 10.334 g/kg. The salt immersion test, electrochemical potentiodynamic measurements and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) demonstrated that the incorporation of Ce‐PAL only with 2 wt% into WPU led to a significant improvement of their corrosion protection properties. Finally, according to the results of scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy, the active anti‐corrosion mechanism of Ce‐PAL/WPU coating was proposed.

Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization (ATRP) has been a powerful tool to synthesize well-defined functional polymers, which are widely used in biology, drug/gene delivery and antibacterial materials, etc. However, the potential toxic residues in polymer reduced its service life and limited its applications. In order to overcome the problem, in this work, a novel polymerization system of activators generated by electron transfer for atom transfer radical polymerization (AGET ATRP) for synchronous separation of the metal catalyst and byproduct of reducing agent was developed, using thiol-grafted cellulose paper (Cell-SH) as a solid reducing agent. The polymerization kinetics were investigated in detail, and the “living” features of the novel polymerization system were confirmed by chain-end analysis and chain extension experiment for the resultant polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA). It is noted that the copper residual in obtained PMMA was less than 20 ppm, just by filtering the sheet-like byproduct of the reducing agent.

The preparation of well-defined block copolymers from both non-conjugated and conjugated monomers is still challenging. In this work, a typical block copolymer poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAc)-b-polystyrene (PS) was successfully synthesized by using a successive iniferter strategy. Herein, PVAc was first obtained in the presence of an iniferter agent (e.g., 1-cyano-1-methylethyldiethyldithiocarbamate (MANDC), 2-(N,N-diethyldithiocarbamyl)-isobutyric acid ethyl ester (EMADC) or 2-(ethoxycarbonothioyl)sulfanyl propanoate (EXEP)). Then the resultant PVAc with high end-group functionalities could be used as an effective macroiniferter agent for the polymerization of styrene (St). The kinetic studies of the chain extension experiment with St indicated the “living” features of the polymerization system. In addition, the obtained PVAc-b-PS copolymers could be easily converted into PVA-b-PS amphiphiles by methanolysis of the poly(vinyl acetate) block. Importantly, the synthesis of the copolymers just uses a single simple and metal-free catalyzed polymerization method, which may be of great potential for industrial production.