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RESEARCH PRODUCT
Ionic liquids gels: Soft materials for environmental remediation
Salvatore MarulloNadka Tzankova DintchevaFrancesco GianniciFrancesca D'annaCarla Rizzosubject
Environmental remediationDiimidazolium saltSupramolecular chemistrySurfaces Coatings and FilmIonic bonding02 engineering and technologyIonic liquid010402 general chemistry01 natural sciencesBiomaterialsRhodaminechemistry.chemical_compoundColloid and Surface ChemistryAdsorptionDye removalWater treatmentElectronic Optical and Magnetic MaterialEnvironmental remediationExtraction (chemistry)Cationic polymerizationSettore CHIM/06 - Chimica Organica021001 nanoscience & nanotechnologyBiomaterial0104 chemical sciencesSurfaces Coatings and FilmsElectronic Optical and Magnetic MaterialschemistryChemical engineeringSupramolecular gelIonic liquid0210 nano-technologydescription
Abstract Hypothesis Nanostructured sorbents and, in particular, supramolecular gels are emerging as efficient materials for the removal of toxic contaminants from water, like industrial dyes. It is also known that ionic liquids can dissolve significant amounts of dyes. Consequently, supramolecular ionic liquids gels could be highly efficient sorbents for dyes removal. This would also contribute to overcome the drawbacks associated with dye removal by liquid–liquid extraction with neat ionic liquids which would require large volumes of extractant and a more difficult separation of the phases. Experiments Herein we employed novel supramolecular ionic liquid gels based on diimidazolium salts bearing naturally occurring or biomass derived anions, to adsorb cationic and anionic dyes from wastewaters. We also carried out a detailed investigation of thermal, structural, morphological and rheological features of our gels to identify which of them are key in designing better sorbents for environmental remediation. Findings The most effective gels showed fast and thorough removal of cationic dyes like Rhodamine B. These gels could also be reused up to 20 times without any loss in removal efficiency. Overall, our ionic gels outperform most of gel-based sorbents systems so far reported in literature.
year | journal | country | edition | language |
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2017-12-12 | Journal of Colloid and Interface Science |