Emulsion templated polymer monoliths containing cellulose nanocrystals: Synthesis and adsorption properties

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) loaded hierarchical macroporous polymer monoliths were synthesized through high internal phase emulsion (HIPE) templating. For this purpose, unmodified CNCs were used as nanofiller in various amounts during HIPE preparation. The effect of CNCs loading on the hierarchical pore structure and mechanical properties was investigated. It was demonstrated that mechanical strength was significantly improved by CNCs loading. In order to reveal an application field, adsorptive property of resulting monoliths was investigated against Nile blue dye. The results showed that the maximum adsorption capacity of cationic Nile blue was 54% for the neat monolith, while it was 70% for the monolith prepared by 9 wt% CNCs loading. Meanwhile, the kinetic evaluation of the experimental adsorption data revealed that the adsorption follows pseudo-second-order kinetic model and it is consistent with Freundlich isotherm.