Novel bacterial cellulose-TiO2 stabilized pickering emulsion for photocatalytic degradation

Authors: LI, QI - Chinese Academy Of Forestry; ZHANG, YUFEI - Chinese Academy Of Forestry; Liu, Zengshe - Kevin; LIU, SHILIN - Chinese Academy Of Forestry; HUANG, FENGHONG - Chinese Academy Of Agricultural Sciences; ZHENG, MINGMING - Chinese Academy Of Agricultural Sciences

Submitted to: Cellulose
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/19/2022
Publication Date: 5/11/2022
Citation: Li, Q., Zhang, Y., Liu, Z., Liu, S., Huang, F., Zheng, M. 2022. Novel bacterial cellulose-TiO2 stabilized pickering emulsion for photocatalytic degradation. Cellulose. 29:5223-5234. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-022-04604-8.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-022-04604-8

Interpretive Summary: Protection and cleanup of our water resources is a top environmental priority. One of the biggest water pollution problems is caused by the fabric industry, where oil in water emulsions easily enter streams and waterways. One method to treat this type of pollution is to use light to break down the organic molecules into harmless species. However, this process is too slow to be effective without a proper catalyst. We have discovered a nano-titanium oxide that, when combined with bacterial cellulose, is the needed combination. The small size of the titanium oxide particles and the water loving structure of the cellulose make it a long lasting and effective catalyst. It was tested for the degradation of rhodamine B, an especially problematic dye, and found to be much faster than systems which do not use this combination. This promising and sustainable method will benefit environmental remediation specialists, as well as serve as a possible pollution control for the textile industry.

Technical Abstract: Photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants is an effective, energy-saving and renewable technique. In this study, functional oil/water (O/W) Pickering emulsions with excellent photocatalytic activity were prepared by the adsorption of nano-titanium oxide (TiO2) into bacterial cellulose (BC). The results indicate that the novel hybrid structure enhanced the interfacial diffusion rate of BC-TiO2 and further improved the mechanical strength of the obtained interfacial layer. Stable medium internal phase emulsions (MIPEs) and high internal phase emulsions (HIPEs) were also obtained by using low-loading hybrid particles. The investigation of morphology and rheological properties indicated that the shear-thinning and solid-like behaviors of the obtained emulsion systems. The photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B was much faster in the emulsion system than p-TiO2 suspension, which was stabilized by BC-TiO2 (45 min, 90%) with respect to the case of TiO2 (90 min, 90%) and an aqueous system containing TiO2 (120 min, 53%). Therefore, this paper gives new insights to the application of BC as an efficient scaffold for loading TiO2 coupling at the oil–water interface, thus paving the way for the development of sustainable catalyst.