Qianqian Shang

Frequent oil spills and increasingly electromagnetic pollution pose a serious threat to human health and ecosystem balance. Due to the high viscosity and poor fluidity of crude oil, traditional absorption materials often have limitations in processing crude oil, such as slow processing speed and inefficiency. A multifunction flexible polyurethane (MPPU) foam was fabricated by foaming from the soybean oil polyol with the modification of Ti ₃ C ₂ T _x nanosheets and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). The prepared MPPU foam was superhydrophobic with a water contact angle (WCA) of 160° and showed excellent mechanical stability by remaining in its initial shape after 1000 cycles. Furthermore, the MPPU foam had efficient photothermal conversion capability (up to 165°C within 100 s under one simulated sunlight) and excellent crude oil adsorption performance. A pump‐assisted continuous oil suction device had been successfully designed for quickly absorbing and recovering crude oil from the water. In addition, the foam revealed great electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding performance (33.6 dB) because of the outstanding conductivity and unique layered structure of Ti ₃ C ₂ T _x . The fabrication of the multifunction foam with remarkable photothermal performance, oil–water separation ability, and EMI shielding performance provides a promising strategy for realizing the high‐value applications of vegetable oil‐based flexible foams. Highlights: The foam is fabricated by using environmentallyfriendly soybean oil polyol. The foam has excellent photothermal conversion and crude oil adsorption performance. The foam has great electromagnetic interference shielding performance.

With an attempt to replace petroleum-derived commercial graphite (CG) with biomass-derived carbon, microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) dissolved in 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate (BMIMAcO) was facilely carbonized to prepare cellulose-derived carbon under a low-temperature range of 250–1600 °C. TEM and AFM results revealed structural evolution of carbon nanosheets starting from carbon dots. The XRD and Raman results showed that the degree of crystallinity of the MCC-derived carbon was apparently enhanced as the temperature was increased to 93.02% at 1600 °C, while the XPS results revealed that the nitrogen content was greatly reduced with increasing temperature. BMIMAcO not only induced low-temperature graphitization of MCC-derived carbon but also provided nitrogen doping for the carbon. Used as an anode of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), the carbon synthesized at 750 °C showed the best cyclic stability and reversible capacity (1052.22 mAh g^–1 at 0.5 A g^–1 after 100 cycles and 1017.46 mAh g^–1 at 1 A g^–1 after 1000 cycles) compared to other MCC-derived carbon and CG. In addition, the costs of cellulose-derived carbon are much lower than those of the petroleum-derived graphite, showing environmental and economical merits for LIB anode production.

To improve the reactivity and enrich the functionality of lignin for valorization, kraft lignin was depolymerized and demethylated via cleaving aryl and alkyl ether bonds in acidic lithium bromide trihydrate (∼60% LiBr aqueous solution). It was found that the cleavage of the ether bonds followed the order of β-O-4 ether > aryl alkyl ether in phenylcoumaran > dialkyl ether in resinol > methoxyl (MeO). The depolymerization via β-O-4 cleavage occurred under mild conditions (e.g., 1.5 M HCl). Both depolymerization and demethylation generated new aromatic hydroxyl (ArOH). With 2.4 M HCl, MeO content dropped from 4.85 to 0.95 mmol/g lignin, and ArOH content increased from 2.78 to 5.09 mmol/g lignin. The depolymerized and demethylated kraft lignin showed excellent antioxidant activity and Cr(VI)-scavenging capacity, compared with original kraft lignin and tannins.

A facile and environmental-friendly approach was developed for the preparation of the cross-linked nanocellulose aerogel through the freeze-drying process and subsequent esterification. The as-prepared aerogel had a three-dimensional cellular microstructure with ultra-low density of 6.05 mg·cm⁻³ and high porosity (99.61%). After modifying by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) with hexadecyltrimethoxysilane (HTMS), the nanocellulose aerogel displayed stable super-hydrophobicity and super-oleophilicity with water contact angle of 151°, and had excellent adsorption performance for various oil and organic solvents with the adsorption capacity of 77~226 g/g. Even after 30 cycles, the adsorption capacity of the nanocellulose aerogel for chloroform was as high as 170 g/g, indicating its outstanding reusability. Therefore, the superhydrophobic cross-linked nanocellulose aerogel is a promising oil adsorbent for wastewater treatment.