Preparation of cyclodextrin-based porous materials by emulsion template method and their adsorption performance for VOCs

Monolithic cyclodextrin (CD)-based porous materials (CD-PMs) were fabricated by stepwise polymerization of continuous phase CD using dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) coated liquid paraffin non-aqueous high internal phase emulsion (HIPEs) as template. The effects of CD type (α-, β-, γ-CD) and mass fraction on the morphology, rheological behavior, physical parameters and mechanical properties of HIPEs were evaluated and analyzed by infinity transmitted polarizing microscope (OM), rheometer, FTIR, SEM and electronic universal material testing machine, with a focus on the static adsorption capacity of CD-PMs for volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The results showed that the CD type had little effect on the average particle size and particle size distribution of HIPEs as well as average pore size of CD-PMs, the increase in CD mass fraction could reduce the particle size and particle size distribution of HIPEs as well as the average pore size of CD-PMS. The CD-PMs did not show structural collapse when the compression strain was 70%, with the stress of 0.8~3.0 MPa, while CD-PMs (PHγ-CD-0.50) prepared with 0.5% (mass fraction) γ-CD exhibited the highest Young's modulus of 8.3 MPa. The CD-PMs displayed high adsorption capacity for various VOCs including toluene and acetaldehyde, with its static unit adsorption capacity of toluene and acetaldehyde reaching 412 and 676 mg/g(CD-PMs), respectively. The adsorption of CD-PMs for toluene was physical adsorption, and could maintain 90% of its original value after 10 recycles of CD-PMs, while the adsorption for acetaldehyde was chemical adsorption, and CD-PMs could not be regenerated at high temperature. © 2024 Fine Chemicals. All rights reserved.