1 research outputs found
Mesoporous, Three-Dimensional Wood Membrane Decorated with Nanoparticles for Highly Efficient Water Treatment
Wood, an earth-abundant
material, is widely used in our everyday
life. With its mesoporous structure, natural wood is comprised of
numerous long, partially aligned channels (lumens) as well as nanochannels
that stretch along its growth direction. This wood mesostructure is
suitable for a range of emerging applications, especially as a membrane/separation
material. Here, we report a mesoporous, three-dimensional (3D) wood
membrane decorated with palladium nanoparticles (Pd NPs/wood membrane)
for efficient wastewater treatment. The 3D Pd NPs/wood membrane possesses
the following advantages: (1) the uniformly distributed lignin within
the wood mesostructure can effectively reduce PdÂ(II) ions to Pd NPs;
(2) cellulose, with its abundant hydroxyl groups, can immobilize Pd
NPs; (3) the partially aligned mesoporous wood channels as well as
their inner ingenious microstructures increase the likelihood of wastewater
contacting Pd NPs decorating the wood surface; (4) the long, Pd NP-decorated
channels facilitate bulk treatment as water flows through the entire
mesoporous wood membrane. As a proof of concept, we demonstrated the
use and efficiency of a Pd NPs/wood membrane to remove methylene blue
(MB, C<sub>16</sub>H<sub>18</sub>N<sub>3</sub>ClS) from a flowing
aqueous solution. The turnover frequency of the Pd NPs/wood membrane,
∼2.02 mol<sub>MB</sub>·mol<sub>Pd</sub><sup>–1</sup>·min<sup>–1</sup>, is much higher than the values reported
in the literature. The water treatment rate of the 3D Pd NPs/wood
membrane can reach 1 × 10<sup>5</sup> L·m<sup>–2</sup>·h<sup>–1</sup> with a high MB removal efficiency (>99.8%).
The 3D mesoporous wood membrane with partially aligned channels exhibits
promising results for wastewater treatment and is applicable for an
even wider range of separation applications