Advanced fabrication and applications of cellulose acetate aerogels from cigarette butts

Abstract

Every year, trillions of cigarette butts (CB) are discarded all over the world without being recycled, thus causing negative impacts on the ecological environment as well as the health of living species. Cellulose acetate (CA), the main component of cigarette butts, is a valuable polymer for numerous applications. For the first time, by using a cost-effective freeze-drying method in the presence of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as a cross-linker, high-value engineering cellulose acetate aerogels were successfully fabricated from CB. The effects of component concentrations on the morphology of the CA aerogels were investigated by changing concentration of CA fibers (13.0 wt.%) and PVA (0.11.0 wt.%). The CA aerogels exhibited an extremely low density (25.445.6 mg/cm3), a high porosity (96.4698.01%), and a low thermal conductivity (0.0340.039 W/(m+K)). The modified CA aerogels also expressed a great capacity of oil absorption (11.8225.22 g/g). Hence, the CA aerogel is a promising material for future uses in thermal insulation and oil spill treatment.