Frontiers of Chemical Science and Engineering最新文献

{"title":"NiCo2O4@quinone-rich N-C core-shell nanowires as composite electrode for electric double layer capacitor","authors":"Yanli Fang,&nbsp;Hui Wang,&nbsp;Xuyun Wang,&nbsp;Jianwei Ren,&nbsp;Rongfang Wang","doi":"10.1007/s11705-022-2223-6","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11705-022-2223-6","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The bind-free carbon cloth-supported electrodes hold the promises for high-performance electrochemical capacitors with high specific capacitance and good cyclic stability. Considering the close connection between their performance and the amount of carbon material loaded on the electrodes, in this work, NiCo₂O₄ nanowires were firstly grown on the substrate of active carbon cloth to provide the necessary surface area in the longitudinal direction. Then, the quinone-rich nitrogen-doped carbon shell structure was formed around NiCo₂O₄ nanowires, and the obtained composite was used as electrode for electric double layer capacitor. The results showed that the composite electrode displayed an area-specific capacitance of 1794 mF·cm⁻² at the current density of 1 mA·cm⁻². The assembled symmetric electric double layer capacitor achieved a high energy density of 6.55 mW·h·cm⁻³ at a power density of 180 mW·cm⁻³. The assembled symmetric capacitor exhibited a capacitance retention of 88.96% after 10000 charge/discharge cycles at the current density of 20 mA·cm⁻². These results indicated the potentials in the preparation of the carbon electrode materials with high energy density and good cycling stability.</p><figure><div><div><div><picture><source><img></source></picture></div></div></div></figure></div>","PeriodicalId":571,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers of Chemical Science and Engineering","volume":"17 4","pages":"373 - 386"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2023-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4646693","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Oxygen-deficient MoOx/Ni3S2 heterostructure grown on nickel foam as efficient and durable self-supported electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction","authors":"Zihuan Yu,&nbsp;Haiqing Yan,&nbsp;Chaonan Wang,&nbsp;Zheng Wang,&nbsp;Huiqin Yao,&nbsp;Rong Liu,&nbsp;Cheng Li,&nbsp;Shulan Ma","doi":"10.1007/s11705-022-2228-1","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11705-022-2228-1","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>High-performance and ultra-durable electrocatalysts are vital for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) during water splitting. Herein, by one-pot solvothermal method, MoO_<i>x</i>/Ni₃S₂ spheres comprising Ni₃S₂ nanoparticles inside and oxygen-deficient amorphous MoO_<i>x</i> outside <i>in situ</i> grow on Ni foam (NF), to assembly the heterostructure composites of MoO_<i>x</i>/Ni₃S₂/NF. By adjusting volume ratio of the solvents of ethanol to water, the optimized MoO_<i>x</i>/Ni₃S₂/NF-11 exhibits the best HER performance, requiring an extremely low overpotential of 76 mV to achieve the current density of 10 mA·cm⁻² (<i>η</i>₁₀ = 76 mV) and an ultra-small Tafel slope of 46 mV·dec⁻¹ in 0.5 mol·L⁻¹ H₂SO₄. More importantly, the catalyst shows prominent high catalytic stability for HER (&gt; 100 h). The acid-resistant MoO_<i>x</i> wraps the inside Ni₃S₂/NF to ensure the high stability of the catalyst under acidic conditions. Density functional theory calculations confirm that the existing oxygen vacancy and MoO_<i>x</i>/Ni₃S₂ heterostructure are both beneficial to the reduced Gibbs free energy of hydrogen adsorption (∣Δ<i>G</i>_H*∣) over Mo sites, which act as main active sites. The heterostructure effectively decreases the formation energy of O vacancy, leading to surface reconstruction of the catalyst, further improving HER performance. The MoO_<i>x</i>/Ni₃S₂/NF is promising to serve as a highly effective and durable electrocatalyst toward HER.</p><figure><div><div><div><picture><source><img></source></picture></div></div></div></figure></div>","PeriodicalId":571,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers of Chemical Science and Engineering","volume":"17 4","pages":"437 - 448"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2023-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4573591","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Fabrication of recyclable Fe3+ chelated aminated polypropylene fiber for efficient clean-up of phosphate wastewater","authors":"Shangyuan Zhao,&nbsp;Fangjia Wang,&nbsp;Rui Zhou,&nbsp;Peisen Liu,&nbsp;Qizhong Xiong,&nbsp;Weifeng Zhang,&nbsp;Chaochun Zhang,&nbsp;Gang Xu,&nbsp;Xinxin Ye,&nbsp;Hongjian Gao","doi":"10.1007/s11705-022-2253-0","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11705-022-2253-0","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Herein, a Fe³⁺-loaded aminated polypropylene fiber has been reported as an efficient phosphate adsorbent. The remarkable phosphate removal ability of the fiber is due to Fe³⁺ immobilization, and it demonstrates a maximum adsorption capacity of 33.94 mg·P·g⁻¹. Adsorption experiments showed that the fiber is applicable over a wide pH range from 2 to 9. Furthermore, the adsorption kinetics and isotherm data were consistent with the pseudo-second-order and Langmuir adsorption models, respectively. The adsorption equilibrium of the fiber for phosphate was reached within 60 min, indicating an efficient monolayer chemisorption process. Moreover, the adsorbent maintained prominent phosphate removal in the presence of competitive ions such as NO<span>\u0000 ⁻₃\u0000 \u0000 </span> and Cl⁻, exhibiting high selectivity. More importantly, the fiber demonstrated excellent reusability (5 times) and low adsorption limit below 0.02 mg·P·g⁻¹. In addition, the phosphate removal efficiency of the fiber can exceed 99% under continuous flow conditions. The adsorption mechanism was studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, showing that the adsorption of phosphate on the fiber mainly depended on the chemical adsorption of the modified Fe³⁺. Overall, this study proves that the fiber possesses many advantages for phosphate removal, including high adsorption efficiency, lower treatment limit, good recyclability, and environmental friendliness.</p><figure><div><div><div><picture><source><img></source></picture></div></div></div></figure></div>","PeriodicalId":571,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers of Chemical Science and Engineering","volume":"17 7","pages":"840 - 852"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2023-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4574437","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"ZnxZr/HZSM-5 as efficient catalysts for alkylation of benzene with carbon dioxide","authors":"Junjun Cheng,&nbsp;Yitao Zhao,&nbsp;Guohao Xu,&nbsp;Peng Zhang,&nbsp;Xuedong Zhu,&nbsp;Fan Yang","doi":"10.1007/s11705-022-2215-6","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11705-022-2215-6","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Alkylation of benzene with carbon dioxide and hydrogen to produce toluene and xylene could increase the added-value of surplus benzene as well as relieve environmental problems like green-house effect. In this work, the alkylation benzene with carbon dioxide and hydrogen reaction was proceeded by using the mixture of zinc-zirconium oxide and HZSM-5 as bifunctional catalyst. The equivalent of Zn/Zr = 1 displays the best catalytic performance at 425 °C and 3.0 MPa, and benzene conversion reaches 42.9% with a selectivity of 90% towards toluene and xylene. Moreover, the carbon dioxide conversion achieves 23.3% and the carbon monoxide selectivity is lower than 35%, indicating that more than 50% carbon dioxide has been effectively incorporated into the target product, which is the best result as far as we know. Combined with characterizations, it indicated that the Zn and Zr formed a solid solution under specific conditions (Zn/Zr = 1). The as-formed solid solution not only possesses a high surface area but also provides a large amount of oxygen vacancies. Additionally, the bifunctional catalyst has excellent stabilities that could keep operating without deactivation for at least 80 h. This work provides promising industrial applications for the upgrading of aromatics.</p><figure><div><div><div><picture><source><img></source></picture></div></div></div></figure></div>","PeriodicalId":571,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers of Chemical Science and Engineering","volume":"17 4","pages":"404 - 414"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2023-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4573841","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Boehmite-supported CuO as a catalyst for catalytic transfer hydrogenation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural to 2,5-bis(hydroxymethyl)furan","authors":"Zexing Huang,&nbsp;Zhijuan Zeng,&nbsp;Xiaoting Zhu,&nbsp;Wenguang Zhao,&nbsp;Jing Lei,&nbsp;Qiong Xu,&nbsp;Yongjun Yang,&nbsp;Xianxiang Liu","doi":"10.1007/s11705-022-2225-4","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11705-022-2225-4","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>2,5-bis(hydroxymethyl)furan (BHMF) is an important monomer of polyester. Its oxygen-containing rigid ring structure and symmetrical diol functional group establish it as an alternative to petroleum-based monomer with unique advantages for the prodution of the degradable bio-based polyester materials. Herein, we prepared a boehmite-supported copper-oxide catalyst for the selective hydrogenation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural into BHMF via catalytic transfer hydrogenation (CTH). Further, ethanol successfully replaced conventional high-pressure hydrogen as the hydrogen donor, with up to 96.9% BHMF selectivity achieved under suitable conditions. Through characterization and factor investigations, it was noted that CuO is crucial for high BHMF selectivity. Furthermore, kinetic studies revealed a higher by-product activation energy compared to that of BHMF, which explained the influence of reaction temperature on product distribution. To establish the catalyst structure-activity correlation, a possible mechanism was proposed. The copper-oxide catalyst deactivated following CTH because ethanol reduced the CuO, which consequently decreased the active sites. Finally, calcination of the catalyst in air recovered its activity. These results will have a positive impact on hydrogenation processes in the biomass industry.</p><figure><div><div><div><picture><source><img></source></picture></div></div></div></figure></div>","PeriodicalId":571,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers of Chemical Science and Engineering","volume":"17 4","pages":"415 - 424"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2023-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4573588","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Simultaneous removal of total oxidizable carbon, phosphate and various metallic ions from H2O2 solution with amino-functionalized zirconia as adsorbents","authors":"Yitong Wang,&nbsp;Yue Zhang,&nbsp;Li Wang","doi":"10.1007/s11705-022-2231-6","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11705-022-2231-6","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Amino-functionalized zirconia was synthesized by the co-condensation method using zirconium butanol and 3-aminopropyltriethoxy silane for the simultaneous removal of various impurities from aqueous 30% H₂O₂ solution. The results of Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and Zeta potential showed that the content of N in amino-functionalized zirconia increased with the added amount of 3-aminopropyltriethoxy silane. Accordingly, the removal efficiency of total oxidizable carbon, phosphate and metallic ions from the H₂O₂ solution increased. The adsorbent with an N content of 1.62% exhibited superior adsorption performance. The removal efficiency of 82.7% for total oxidizable carbon, 34.2% for phosphate, 87.1% for Fe³⁺, 83.2% for Al³⁺, 55.1% for Ca²⁺ and 66.6% for Mg²⁺, with a total adsorption capacity of 119.6 mg·g⁻¹, could be achieved. The studies conducted using simulated solutions showed that the adsorption process of phosphate on amino-functionalized zirconia is endothermic and spontaneous, and the behaviors could be well described by the pseudo-second-order model and Langmuir model with a maximum adsorption capacity of 186.7 mg·g⁻¹. The characterizations of the spent adsorbents by Zeta potential, FTIR and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed that the adsorption mechanism of phosphate is predominantly electrostatic attraction by the protonated functional groups and complementary ligand exchange with zirconium hydroxyl groups.</p><figure><div><div><div><picture><source><img></source></picture></div></div></div></figure></div>","PeriodicalId":571,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers of Chemical Science and Engineering","volume":"17 4","pages":"470 - 482"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2023-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4573846","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Efficient acetoin production from pyruvate by engineered Halomonas bluephagenesis whole-cell biocatalysis","authors":"Meiyu Zheng,&nbsp;Zhenzhen Cui,&nbsp;Jing Zhang,&nbsp;Jing Fu,&nbsp;Zhiwen Wang,&nbsp;Tao Chen","doi":"10.1007/s11705-022-2229-0","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11705-022-2229-0","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Acetoin is an important platform chemical, which has a wide range of applications in many industries. <i>Halomonas bluephagenesis</i>, a chassis for next generation of industrial biotechnology, has advantages of fast growth and high tolerance to organic acid salts and alkaline environment. Here, <i>α</i>-acetolactate synthase and <i>α</i>-acetolactate decarboxylase from <i>Bacillus subtilis</i> 168 were co-expressed in <i>H. bluephagenesis</i> to produce acetoin from pyruvate. After reaction condition optimization and further increase of <i>α</i>-acetolactate decarboxylase expression, acetoin production and yield were significantly enhanced to 223.4 mmol·L⁻¹ and 0.491 mol·mol⁻¹ from 125.4 mmol·L⁻¹ and 0.333 mol·mol⁻¹, respectively. Finally, the highest titer of 974.3 mmol·L⁻¹ (85.84 g·L⁻¹) of acetoin was accumulated from 2143.4 mmol·L⁻¹ (188.6 g·L⁻¹) of pyruvic acid within 8 h in fed-batch bioconversion under optimal reaction conditions. Moreover, the reusability of the cell catalysis was also tested, and the result illustrated that the whole-cell catalysis obtained 433.3, 440.2, 379.0, 442.8 and 339.4 mmol·L⁻¹ (38.2, 38.8, 33.4, 39.0 and 29.9 g·L⁻¹) acetoin in five repeated cycles under the same conditions. This work therefore provided an efficient <i>H. bluephagenesis</i> whole-cell catalysis with a broad development prospect in biosynthesis of acetoin.</p><figure><div><div><div><picture><source><img></source></picture></div></div></div></figure></div>","PeriodicalId":571,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers of Chemical Science and Engineering","volume":"17 4","pages":"425 - 436"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2023-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4569898","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Construction of defect-containing UiO-66/MoSe2 heterojunctions with superior photocatalytic performance for wastewater treatment and mechanism insight","authors":"Xiao Han,&nbsp;Xiaoxuan Wang,&nbsp;Jiafang Wang,&nbsp;Yingjie Xie,&nbsp;Cuiwei Du,&nbsp;Chongfei Yu,&nbsp;Jinglan Feng,&nbsp;Jianhui Sun,&nbsp;Shuying Dong","doi":"10.1007/s11705-022-2226-3","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11705-022-2226-3","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Metal—organic frameworks are recognized as promising multifunctional materials, especially metal—organic framework-based photocatalysts, which are considered to be ideal photocatalytic materials. Herein, a new type of UiO-66/MoSe₂ composite was prepared using the solvothermal method. The optimum composite was selected by adjusting the mass ratio of UiO-66 and MoSe₂. X-ray diffraction analysis showed that the mass ratio influenced the crystal plane exposure rate of the composite, which may have affected its photocatalytic performance. The composite is composed of ultra-thin flower-like MoSe₂ that wrapped around cubic UiO-66, a structure that increases the abundance of active sites for reactions and is more conducive to the separation of carriers. The photocatalytic properties of the composite were evaluated by measuring the degradation rate of Rhodamine B and the catalyst’s ability to reduce Cr(VI)-containing wastewater under visible light irradiation. Rhodamine B was decolorized completely in 120 min, and most of the Cr(VI) was reduced within 150 min. The photochemical mechanism of the complex was studied in detail. The existence of Mo⁶⁺ and oxygen vacancies, in addition to the Z-type heterojunction promote the separation of electrons and holes, which enhances the photocatalytic effect.</p><figure><div><div><div><picture><source><img></source></picture></div></div></div></figure></div>","PeriodicalId":571,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers of Chemical Science and Engineering","volume":"17 4","pages":"449 - 459"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2023-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4569899","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Removal of nitric oxide from simulated flue gas using aqueous persulfate with activation of ferrous ethylenediaminetetraacetate in the rotating packed bed","authors":"Da Guo,&nbsp;Guisheng Qi,&nbsp;Dong Chen,&nbsp;Jiabao Niu,&nbsp;Youzhi Liu,&nbsp;Weizhou Jiao","doi":"10.1007/s11705-022-2224-5","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11705-022-2224-5","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Nitric oxide being a major gas pollutant has attracted much attention and various technologies have been developed to reduce NO emission to preserve the environment. Advanced persulfate oxidation technology is a workable and effective choice for wet flue gas denitrification due to its high efficiency and green advantages. However, NO absorption rate is limited and affected by mass transfer limitation of NO and aqueous persulfate in traditional reactors. In this study, a rotating packed bed (RPB) was employed as a gas—liquid absorption device to elevate the NO removal efficiency (<i>η</i>_NO) by aqueous persulfate ((NH₄)₂S₂O₈) activated by ferrous ethylenediaminetetraacetate (Fe²⁺-EDTA). The experimental results regarding the NO absorption were obtained by investigating the effect of various operating parameters on the removal efficiency of NO in RPB. Increasing the concentration of (NH₄)₂S₂O₈ and liquid—gas ratio could promoted the oxidation and absorption of NO while the <i>η</i>_NO decreased with the increase of the gas flow and NO concentration. In addition, improving the high gravity factor increased the <i>η</i>_NO and the total volumetric mass transfer coefficient (<i>K</i>_G<i>α</i>) which raise the <i>η</i>_NO up to more than 75% under the investigated system. These observations proved that the RPB can enhance the gas—liquid mass transfer process in NO absorption. The correlation formula between <i>K</i>_G<i>α</i> and the influencing factors was determined by regression calculation, which is used to guide the industrial scale-up application of the system in NO removal. The presence of O₂ also had a negative effect on the NO removal process and through electron spin resonance spectrometer detection and product analysis, it was revealed that Fe²⁺-EDTA activated (NH₄)₂S₂O₈ to produce •SO<span>\u0000 ⁻₄\u0000 \u0000 </span>, •OH and •O<span>\u0000 ⁻₂\u0000 \u0000 </span>, played a leading role in the oxidation of NO, to produce NO<span>\u0000 ⁻₃\u0000 \u0000 </span> as the final product. The obtained results demonstrated a good applicable potential of RPB/PS/Fe²⁺-EDTA in the removal of NO from flue gases.</p><figure><div><div><div><picture><source><img></source></picture></div></div></div></figure></div>","PeriodicalId":571,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers of Chemical Science and Engineering","volume":"17 4","pages":"460 - 469"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2023-01-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4536320","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A novel strategy for the construction of silk fibroin-SiO2 composite aerogel with enhanced mechanical property and thermal insulation performance","authors":"Weixin Liu,&nbsp;Bo Yin,&nbsp;Jie Zhang,&nbsp;Xingping Liu,&nbsp;Wenxian Lian,&nbsp;Shaokun Tang","doi":"10.1007/s11705-022-2222-7","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11705-022-2222-7","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The practical application of silica aerogels is an enormous challenge due to the difficulties in improving both mechanical property and thermal insulation performance. In this work, silk fibroin was used as scaffold to improve the mechanical property and thermal insulation performance of silica aerogels. The ungelled SiO₂ precursor solution was impregnated into silk fibroin to prepare silk fibroin-SiO₂ composite aerogels <i>via</i> sol-gel method followed by freeze-drying. By virtue of the interfacial hydrogen-bonding interactions and chemical reactions between silk fibroin and silica nanoparticles, SiO₂ was well-dispersed in the silk fibroin aerogel and composite aerogels exhibited enhanced mechanical property. By increasing the loading of silk fibroin from 15 wt % to 21 wt %, the maximum compressive stress was enhanced from 0.266 to 0.508 MPa when the strain reached 50%. The thermal insulation performance of the composite aerogels was improved compared with pure silica aerogel, as evidenced that the thermal conductivity was decreased from 0.0668 to 0.0341 W·m⁻¹·K⁻¹. Moreover, the composite aerogels exhibited better hydrophobicity and fire retardancy compared to pure silica aerogel. Our work provides a novel approach to preparing silk fibroin-SiO₂ composite aerogels with enhanced mechanical property and thermal insulation performance, which has potential application as thermal insulation material.</p><figure><div><div><div><picture><source><img></source></picture></div></div></div></figure></div>","PeriodicalId":571,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers of Chemical Science and Engineering","volume":"17 3","pages":"288 - 297"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2023-01-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4253553","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}