Synthesis and characterization of hybrid composite aerogels from alginic acid and graphene oxide

Aerogels are one class of solid adsorbents that are gaining considerable attention because of their very high porosity, high specific surface area, and extremely low density. However, most aerogels being studied and used recently are synthetic in nature, which are usually mesoporous silica and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). As research focus is geared towards sustainable engineering, it is desired to utilize biomass to synthesize aerogels. This study thus aims to produce alginic acid-graphene oxide hybrid composite aerogels and compare them with its existing synthetic counterparts. Alginic acid (AA) is an abundant marine biopolymer that easily forms gels, while graphene oxide (GO) is a nanomaterial consisting of many functional groups. Aerogels made up of AA and GO were successfully synthesized using a sol-gel method. The hydrogel was converted into an aerogel by drying with supercritical carbon dioxide. The percentage of graphene oxide was varied from 0 to 20%. The aerogels were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and nitrogen adsorption–desorption measurements. The addition of GO increased the specific surface area of the aerogel up to a certain point, after which it decreased. The 10% GO-AA aerogel showed the most favourable porosity characteristics with a specific surface area of 177.26 m²/g and average pore diameter of 53.2 nm. There had been no observable difference in the thermal behaviour of the aerogels with a change in the concentration of graphene oxide.