Aerogel doped by sulfur-functionalized graphene oxide with convenient separability for efficient patulin removal from apple juice

Patulin (PAT) contaminant causes severe food safety issue throughout apple industry. Although adsorption is the feasible approach to remove PAT, the limited adsorption capacity and separation difficulty of most adsorbent is the major drawback that remains to be overcome. Here GO-SH doped aerogel was prepared and used for removal PAT from apple juice. The intrinsic porous of the aerogel and abundant active sites including –COOH, –NH 2 and -SH offered the PAT adsorption capacity of 24.75 μg/mg that superior to most reported adsorbents. Furthermore, it could reduce 89 ± 1.23% PAT in real apple juice without juice quality deterioration and cytotoxicity. Importantly, the aerogel with good mechanical strength and structure stability could endure the complex juice solution so that there was no any residue after convenient separation of the aerogel, which proved that the proposed aerogel was a promising adsorbent to be applied to apple juice industry for PAT removal.