Tert-butyl alcohol used to fabricate nano-cellulose aerogels via freeze-drying technology

Aerogel, a highly porous material, is attracting increasing attention owing to low thermal conductivity and high specific surface area. Freeze-drying technology has been employed to produce nano-cellulose aerogels; however, the resultant product has low specific surface areas. Here, a modified approach to prepare nano-cellulose aerogels was reported, which involves tert-butyl alcohol as a solvent. Nano-cellulose aerogels were prepared via a spontaneous gelation fashion using calcium chloride solution, followed by tert-butyl alcohol solvent displacement and freeze drying. Addition of calcium chloride (0.25%) accelerated the physical gelation process. The application of tert-butyl alcohol as a solvent contributed to preservation of gel network. The obtained spherical nano-cellulose aerogels had a shrinkage rate of 5.89%. The specific surface area and average pore size was 164. 9666 m2 g−1 and 10.01 nm, respectively. Additionally, nano-cellulose aerogels had a comparable thermal degradation property when compared to microcrystalline cellulose. These biophysical properties make nano-cellulose aerogels as a promising absorption material.