Interface engineering design of compressible and hydrophobic cellulose nanofibril aerogel with porous lamellar structure as highly efficient oil adsorbent

Nanocellulose aerogels have been considered as attractive sorbents for the remediation of oil spills due to their light weight, sustainability, and abundant pore constructure. However, nanocellulose aerogels integrating high mechanical robustness and efficient oil adsorption properties are still critical challenges. Herein, a highly hydrophobic and compressible oil adsorption aerogel with special porous lamellar structures, containing cellulose nanofibril (CNF) frameworks, SiO 2 @polydopamine (PDA) core-shell nanospheres, and hydrophobic modification by octadecyltrimethoxysilane (OTMS) silane long chains, is fabricated through the rapid dopamine (DA) co-deposition and silanization modification interface engineering. The core-shell particles with PDA as the binder and SiO 2 particles as the nano-sized structures were adhesively coated on CNF skeleton to introduce monolayer coatings. The synergistic effect of the SiO 2 @PDA core-shell nanospheres and OTMS silane long chains significantly improved stable hydrophobicity and environmental resistance of aerogels in harsh conditions. The unique porous architecture of the aerogel can not only enhance mechanical compressibility but guide the direction of oil and organic pollutants transport. The obtained aerogels showed excellent mechanical properties with a high compressive strength of 1.23 MPa and outstanding oil adsorption performance with a high oil capture capacity of 44.63g/g. This facile strategy holds great promise to develop sustainable, compressible, and effective oil absorbents for highly efficient oil adsorbents. Graphical abstract