Biomass-derived branched polyamine-functionalized chitosan/sodium alginate aerogels for efficient indoor low-concentration HCHO capture under high humidity.

Authors

Shengyun Wu, Dingchen Wang, Siyi Liu, Sijie Tan, Kan Hu

Published in

International journal of biological macromolecules. Pages 155027. Oct 25, 2026. Epub Oct 25, 2026.

Abstract

Indoor low-concentration formaldehyde (HCHO) remains a health concern, while many amine-functionalized adsorbents show reduced performance at high relative humidity (RH). Herein, chitosan/sodium alginate aerogels functionalized with cyanuric chloride (CYC) and tetraethylenepentamine (TEPA) were developed for HCHO capture. The unmodified aerogel was designated CSA. CSCPA-1, CSCPA-2, and CSCPA-3 were prepared at CSA: CYC: TEPA feed mass ratios of 5:1.8:2.8, 5:4.6:7.1, and 5:7.4:11.4, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller analyses showed that polyamine functionalization altered the pore-wall morphology and porous structure, with CSCPA-2 retaining a relatively open and intact pore architecture and exhibiting the largest specific surface area and pore volume among the modified samples. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy supported the incorporation of triazine- and polyamine-containing functionalities, while XPS further indicated enrichment of nitrogen-containing chemical environments. At an initial HCHO concentration of 0.6 mg·m^-3 and 25 °C, CSCPA-2 achieved removal efficiencies of 89%, 92%, 98%, and 93% at 30%, 50%, 70%, and 90% RH, respectively. At 70% RH, its adsorption capacity reached 0.264 ± 0.017 mg·g^-1 (n = 3), approximately 3.5-fold that of pristine CSA. HCHO adsorption kinetics of the CSCPA aerogels were better described by the pseudo-second-order model, while spectroscopic changes before and after adsorption supported the involvement of amine-containing sites in HCHO capture. In the fourth adsorption-regeneration cycle, CSCPA-2 retained 95.98% removal efficiency and 0.2286 ± 0.0023 mg·g^-1 adsorption capacity. These results highlight its potential for indoor low-concentration HCHO removal and provide a facile strategy for designing humidity-tolerant biomass-derived adsorbents.

PMID:
42927814
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 26 Oct 2026.

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