Publications by authors named "Shangru Zhai"

The treatment of water contaminated with oil or organic solvents has always been a thorny challenge, considering the complexity of water pollution, the susceptibility to secondary pollution and the consequent depletion of resources. Biomass is a versatile, green and self-circulating natural material that shows important potential in designing high-performance oil/water separation materials. This review highlights the recent research progress on biomass-based materials (BBMs) in the field of oil-water separation.

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An ingenious microstructure of electromagnetic microwave absorption materials is crucial to achieve strong absorption and a broad bandwidth. Herein, one-dimensional (1D) carbon fibers with implantation of zero-dimensional (0D) ZIF-8-derived carbon frameworks and construction of a three-dimensional (3D) microcosmic multichannel porous structure are fabricated by electro-blown spinning, solvent-thermal reaction, and high-temperature pyrolysis techniques. The 1D carbon fiber skeleton with a multichannel structure provides a direct axial conductive pathway for charge transport, which plays an important role in dielectric loss.

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The synthesis of carbon supporter/nanoscale high-entropy alloys (HEAs) electromagnetic response composites by carbothermal shock method has been identified as an advanced strategy for the collaborative competition engineering of conductive/dielectric genes. Electron migration modes within HEAs as manipulated by the electronegativity, valence electron configurations and molar proportions of constituent elements determine the steady state and efficiency of equivalent dipoles. Herein, enlightened by skin-like effect, a reformative carbothermal shock method using carbonized cellulose paper (CCP) as carbon supporter is used to preserve the oxygen-containing functional groups (O·) of carbonized cellulose fibers (CCF).

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The cost-effective and green separation of dye pollutants from wastewater is of great importance in environmental remediation. Industrial seaweed residue (SR), as a low-cost cellulose source, was used to produce carboxylated nanorized-SR (NSR) oxalic acid (OA)-water pretreatments followed by ultrasonic disintegration. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray polycrystalline diffraction, nitrogen isotherms, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, vibrating sample magnetometry, X-ray photoelectron spectrometry, particle charge detection, zeta potential and retro titration experiments were utilized to explore the physiochemical properties of samples.

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The development of novel materials for electrodes with high energy densities is essential to the advancement of energy storage technologies. In this study, N-doped layered porous carbon with ZIF-67-derived binary CoFeO-Fe particles was successfully fabricated by the pyrolysis of an Fe-based chitosan (CS) hydrogel mixed with ZIF-67 particles. Various characterization techniques were employed to assess the performance of the prepared porous CoFeO-Fe@NC composite.

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Functionalized magnetic nanocomposites were considered as promising adsorbents owing to their abundant functional groups and ease of separation properties. Herein, we combined the solvothermal method with molecular copolymerization to synthesize a salicylaldoxime-grafted magnetic polydopamine (SMP) core-shell hybrid and exploited it for Cu(II) adsorption. The physicochemical properties of SMP were comprehensively studied by SEM, TEM, XRD, FT-IR, TGA, XPS, and VSM measurements.

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An emerging carbothermal shock method is an ultra-convenient strategy for synthesizing high-entropy alloys (HEAs), in which the intelligent combination of carbon support and HEAs can be serve as a decisive factor for interpreting the trade-off relationship between conductive gene and dielectric gene. However, the feedback mechanism of HEAs ordering degree on electromagnetic (EM) response in 2-18 GHz has not been comprehensively demystified. Herein, while lignin-based carbon fiber paper (L-CFP) as carbon support, L-CFP/FeCoNiCuZn-X with is prepared by carbothermal shock method.

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Recyclable, non-toxic, and degradable biological substrates contribute significantly to super-wetting surfaces. In this work, we prepared magnetic micro-nano super-hydrophobic surfaces through a robust solution with magnetic modified lignin particles as the supporting structure. A novel PDMS (polydimethylsiloxane)/magnetic lignin particle (lignin@FeO)/PDA sponge composite was fabricated.

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Multifunctional lignin-based adsorbents, which have shown great application prospect, have attracted widespread attention. Herein, a series of multifunctional lignin-based magnetic recyclable adsorbents were prepared from carboxymethylated lignin (CL), which was rich in carboxyl group (-COOH). After optimizing the mass ratio of CL to FeO, the prepared CL/FeO (3:1) adsorbent showed efficient adsorption capacities for heavy metal ions.

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The rational design and synthesis of advanced electrode materials are significant for the applications of supercapacitors. Ferroferric oxide (FeO), with its high theoretical capacitance is a renowned cathode material. Nevertheless, its low electronic conductivity and poor cycling stability during a long-term charge/discharge process limit its large-scale applications.

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A novel multi-layered reticular polyamidoxime (PAO)-functionalized holocellulose bundles (ML-r-PAO@HB) with abundant oriented micro-channels and high mechanical strength was created via a facile solvent-exchange strategy and used for the first time to capture uranium from seawater. Due to the hydrophobic interaction of PAO chains induced by the solvent-exchange, multi-layered reticular PAO was successfully self-assembled onto the oriented micro-channels of the HB, which greatly improved the accessibility to the adsorption sites by increasing the exposed surface of PAO. The ML-r-PAO@HB exhibited high uptake capacity (851.

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Copper oxide (CuO) and copper (Cu) have been viewed as the prospective pseudocapacitive electrode materials for supercapacitors. Nevertheless, the poor electron transfer capacity, loading amount, and cycling stability limit their wide applications, which can be addressed by developing the CuO based heterojunction on conductive carbons. Here, a CuO/Cu@C comprising CuO/Cu nanoflowers and chitosan-derived N-doped porous carbon was compounded by simple mechanical mixing, freeze-drying, and carbonization.

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The development of g-CN-based photocatalysts with abundant active sites is of great significance for photocatalytic reactions. Herein, a smart and robust strategy was presented to fabricate three-dimensional (3D) g-CN nanosheet-coated alginate-based hierarchical porous carbon (g-CN@HPC), including coating melamine on calcium alginate (CA) hydrogel beads, freeze-drying hydrogel beads as well as pyrolysis at high temperatures. The resulting photocatalyst possessed a significantly high surface area and a large amount of interconnected macropores compared with porous carbon without the melamine coating.

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Designing interfacial coating with tailored characteristics is a crucial step in regulating the wetting properties of oil/water separation materials; however, the controllable fabrication of multifunctional layer with long-term durability in harsh environments remains challenging. Fabrication of raised dots based on magnetic FeO particles on micro-nanometer units, inspired by mussel chemistry, under the adhesion behavior of dopamine (DA) self-polymerization covalent deposition of FeO particles and hydrophobic polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) modification to synthesize magnetic superhydrophobic cotton composites (Cotton-P). Due to the unique magnetic and superhydrophobic surface composition, the synthetic Cotton-P possesses superhydrophobic (155.

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A separable spherical bio-adsorbent (CMC-Cr) was prepared for capturing heavy metal ions by simple coordination and cross-linking between targeted ions of Cr and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC). A simple alternation of the CMC incorporation allowed the interconnected networks within the microspheres of preformed solid CMC to be adjusted. The excellent network structure could achieve the maximum collision between the adsorbent and the heavy metal cations in the wastewater.

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The aerobic oxidation of lignin model 2-phenoxyacetophenone (2-PAP) in cooperative ionic liquid mixtures (CoILs) with 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate ([CCim]OAc) and 1-benzyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([BCim]NTf) was investigated. Complete degradation of 2-PAP was achieved with [CCim]OAc/[BCim]NTf molar ratio (R) of 1/1 and 1/2 at 100 °C for 2 h. The conversion and product yields from CoILs were higher than those in pure ILs, indicating the cooperative effects of [CCim]OAc/[BCim]NTf on cleaving aryl-ether bonds.

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The preparation of biomass-derived carbon electrode materials with abundant active sites is suitable for development of energy-storage systems with high energy and power densities. Herein, a hybrid material consisting of highly-dispersed nickel ferrite nanoparticle on 3D hierarchical carboxymethyl cellulose-derived porous carbon (NiFeO/CPC) was prepared by simple annealing treatment. The synergistic effects of NiFeO species with multiple oxidation states and 3D porous carbon with a large specific surface area offered abundant active centers, fast electron/ion transport, and robust structural stability, thereby showing the excellent performance of the electrochemical capacitor.

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Lignin-first depolymerization of lignocellulosic biomass into aromatics is of great significance to sustainable biorefinery. However, it remains a challenge, owing to the variance between lignin sources and structures. In this study, ruthenium supported on carbon nanotubes (Ru/CNT) exhibits efficient catalytic activity toward lignin hydrogenolysis to exclusively afford monophenols in high yields.

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Novel millimeter hollow microspheres were fabricated from carboxymethyl cellulose microspheres and polyethyleneimine using glutaraldehyde as a crosslinking agent. The hollow microspheres prepared with different polyethyleneimine usages and different polyethyleneimine treatment time were investigated deeply and characterized via SEM-EDX, FT-IR, and BET surface area analysis. It was shown that polyethyleneimine could break the coordination bonds between the carboxyl and Al (III) in carboxymethyl cellulose microspheres, leading to the formation of hollow structures.

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Here, we have developed a novel bilayer hollow amphiphilic biosorbent (BHAB-3) with large adsorption capacity, rapid adsorption kinetics, and cost-effective for the removal of Cr(VI) and Cu(II) from aqueous solutions. The synthesis was based on the clever use of freeze-drying to fix the structure, secondary modification of the carboxymethyl cellulose microspheres with polyethyleneimine and cross-linking by glutaraldehyde. The consequences of pH, initial concentration, contact time and temperature on adsorption were investigated.

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The development of advanced energy storage systems, such as rechargeable batteries and supercapacitors (SCs), is one of the great challenges related to energy demand with the rapid development of world economy. Herein, a three-dimensional hierarchical porous lignin-derived carbon/WO (HPC/WO) was prepared by carbonization and solvothermal process. This electrode material for supercapacitor can be operated at a wide voltage window range of -0.

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Recently, biochar-related phosphate sorbents have been extensively investigated and achieved significant progress; however, there is still much room for enhancement on capturing performance and recovery of powdery ones after sorption. Herein, a new kind of adsorbent, in which biochar/Mg-Al spinel encapsulated in carboxymethyl cellulose-La hydrogels with cationic polymeric layers, was fabricated, aiming for integrating multi-advantages of each component for enhanced phosphate capture. Batch static experiments were correlated to the phosphate adsorption performance of the adsorbent.

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Phosphorus (P) has brought a series of environmental problems while benefiting mankind. To reclaim phosphorus from wastewater efficiently and conveniently, a novel magnetic adsorbent with aminated lignin/CeO/FeO composites (AL-NH@FeO-Ce) possessing a high affinity to phosphate and easily separated from aqueous solutions was developed in this work. The characterization results revealed that Fe and Ce elements have been doped into the aminated lignin successfully.

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The oxidative depolymerization of alkali lignin (AL) in 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate ([CCim]OAc) system without additional catalyst was investigated under mild conditions (initial O pressure of 1.5 MPa, 80 °C-100 °C). Compared with other ionic liquids (ILs), the cooperation of imidazolium cation and acetate anion successfully enhanced AL conversion.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study explored how formaldehyde (FA) affects lignin during the pretreatment of corn stalks, utilizing a specific chemical mixture.
  • It was found that FA prevents the condensation of lignin, allowing it to remain in smaller, soluble fragments instead of forming larger complexes.
  • The findings indicated that the addition of FA and the type of solvent used significantly influence the structural characteristics of lignin and its breakdown products during the pretreatment process.
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