Improving the catalytic and mechanical performance of alginate catalyst through functionalization by...

Biomass-based aerogel catalysts have attracted extensive attention due to their high surface aera, continuous porous and environmental friendliness. However, their catalytic activity and mechanical strength are not satisfied for industrial applications. In this work, to solve the above two issues, a new kind of graphene oxide enhancediminodiacetic acid-functionalized Cu-cross-linked alginate (GO-Cu-SA-IDA) aerogel composites were prepared. The physicochemical property of the prepared alginate aerogel composites was characterized systematically, and their catalytic activities were studied in the hydroxylation of phenol. Results illustrated that compared with Cu-SA aerogels (∼16 %), the amount of loaded copper ion which played as the active sites in GO-Cu-SA-IDA aerogel composite was increased by 2 times (32.2 %). In addition, the mechanical strength of GO-Cu-SA-IDA was increased by 10 times. After functionalization, both the catalytic activity and mechanical strength of prepared alginate aerogel composites were enhanced successfully. In addition, the catalyst had been recycled five times with only 5.8 % loss of its catalytic activity, which provided a desirable material for next generation of catalysts.