Chinese researchers find biological nanofibrils could efficiently extract valuable metal elements from water

In China, a research group led by the Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology (QIBEBT), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), has revealed that biological nanofibrils could efficiently extract valuable metal elements from water.

Their findings were published in ACS Nano on August 15. In recent years, the group has carried out a lot of research work on the exfoliation and self-assembly of biological nanofibrils. They found cyanoethyl substitution could enable rapid exfoliation of cyanoethyl cellulose nanofibrils by mild shear (e.g., manual shake and homogenization) within 30 minutes with a conversion up to approximately 90%.

Recently, they found that cellulose fibrils were preferentially exfoliated from the lignin-poor layer of secondary cell walls of balsa wood during an in-situ amidoximation process and these fibrils were filled in the wood cell tracheids.