Ultra-light Carbon Aerogels as an Absorbent for Organic Liquids

We have explored a facile, economic, and environmentally friendly method to produce ultra-light carbon aerogels (CAs) in large scale by using sodium alginate (SA) as precursors. Ethanol treated CAs exhibit a porous, interconnected, well-organized 3D network structure. The density and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) specific surface area (SSA) of the ethanol treated CAs are about 5-8 mg cm-3 and 1226 m2 g-1, respectively, which are comparable to those of previously reported materials. The mechanism is mainly physical absorption of organic solvents, which can be stored in the pores of the aerogels. Owing to the low density and high porosity, ethanol treated CAs are the ideal absorbent for high-efficiency organic adsorption.