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    Design of amphoteric bionic fibers by imitating spider silk for rapid and complete removal of low-level multiple heavy metal ions

    Year: 2021

    Journal: Chem. Eng. J., Volume 412, MAY 15

    Authors: Zhou, Hang; Zhu, Hongxiang; Shi, Xiaoyu; Wang, Lei; He, Hui; Wang, Shuangfei

    Organizations: National Natural Science Foundation of China [31860193]; National Key RAMP;D Program of China [2018YFD0800700]; Guangxi Youth Natural Science Fund [2018GXNSFBA281174]

    Keywords: Adsorption; Bionic fibers; Heavy metal ions; Amphiprotic functional groups; Spider silk

    To overcome the ?last kilometer? problem for the complete removal of multiple heavy metal ions from water, it is important to solve the imbalance of the amphiprotic functional groups and address the low total group density of amphoteric cellulose-based adsorbents while maintaining the swelling of the fiber structure. Inspired by the principle of the spider silk, a novel amphoteric bionic fibers adsorbent was designed via electrostatic assembly of cellulose nanofibers (CNF) as the skeleton, and graphene oxide (GO) and polyethyleneimine (PEI) as the outer and inner layers, respectively. Quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation was used for precise monitoring of the balance of the anionic and cationic functional groups in forming the bionic fibers. The conversion rate of the reaction reagent improved considerably, to above 99%. The as-prepared adsorbent rapidly and completely removed Cd(II), Cr(VI), Cu(II), and Pb(II) with a starting concentration of 1000 ppb, in 40 min. CNF, as the skeleton, ensured a high swelling rate for the amphoteric bionic fibers and accelerated adsorption. A chemical characterization and density function theory simulation showed the excellent adsorption performance of the amphoteric bionic fibers owing to the excellent mass transfer kinetics and balanced high-density amino and carboxyl groups.
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