Highly functional bio-based micro- and nano-structured materials for neodymium recovery

One of the main pillars sustainable development is preparation functional materials derived from renewable resources. Nevertheless, facile methods to convert lignocellulosic biomass into value-added, highly remain limited. Here, we evaluate potential an acid-free method a variety charged micro- and nano-structured materials. We show how sequential oxidation delignified (e.g., softwood pulp cotton) or untreated corncob tomato peel) sources yield three distinct products, including biopolymeric nanoparticles (BNP), solubilized biopolymers (SB), microproducts (MP), bearing up 6 mmol carboxylate groups per gram, which ∼ 500 % beyond theoretical charge content conventional cellulose nanocrystals (CNC). The difference among products was type nanoparticles: yielded hairy nanocrystals, whereas lignin were formed sources. As proof-of-concept for applications these materials, that carboxylated cotton remove 92.5 mg neodymium ions gram dilute solution in less than 5 min recover approximately 64 it via pH adjustment. This work may provide new opportunities conversion wide array biocolloids with extremely high density advanced applications.