The hydrophilic modification of polyvinylidene fluoride (HP-PVDF) membrane has gained increasing attention in recent years for the oil/water separation. Nevertheless, there are still challenges in the simple fabrication of inexpensive, eco-friendly and durable HP-PVDF membrane. In this study, a novel HP-PVDF membrane of cellulose-TA-PVA-PVDF with outstanding micro-nano-scale porosity, favorable durability, superhydrophilicity and underwater superoleophobicity was prepared by strongly adhering regenerated cellulose (RC) onto a PVDF membrane using supramolecular adhesive, tannic acid and polyvinyl alcohol (TA-PVA) complex. The preparation method possessed the merits of being simple, facile, non-toxic and cost-effective. The pore size of the RC layer on the surface of cellulose-TA-PVA-PVDF was conducive to demulsification, and the strong adhesive TA-PVA complex was helpful for improving the durability of the cellulose-TA-PVA-PVDF membrane. The developed cellulose-TA-PVA-PVDF membrane not only exhibited excellent oil/water separation efficiency (99.99%) and promising flux (318 L m⁻² h⁻¹ bar⁻¹) but also achieved 99.7% separation efficiency after 30 cycles and 30 min of ultrasound. More importantly, the cellulose-TA-PVA-PVDF showed outstanding separation performance for real oil/seawater mixture. Hence, the cellulose-TA-PVA-PVDF membrane had considerable potential for practical applications in oil/water separation.

A new form-stable composite phase change material (PEG/ASB) composed of almond shell biochar (ASB) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) was produced via a simple and easy vacuum impregnation method. The supporting material ASB, which was cost effective, environmentally friendly, renewable and rich in appropriate pore structures, was produced from agricultural residues of almond shells by a simple pyrolysis method, and it was firstly used as the matrix of PEG. Different analysis techniques were applied to investigate the characteristics of PEG/ASB, including structural and thermal properties, and the interaction mechanism between ASB and PEG was studied. The thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and thermal cycle tests demonstrated that PEG/ASB possessed favorable thermal stability. The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) curves demonstrated that the capacities for latent heat storage of PEG/ASB were enhanced with increasing PEG weight percentage. Additionally, PEG/ASB had an excellent thermal conductivity of 0.402 W/mK, which was approximately 1.6 times higher than that of the pure PEG due to the addition of ASB. All the study results indicated that PEG/ASB had favorable phase change properties, which could be used for thermal energy storage.

A simple, environmentally friendly and cost-effective nonsurfactant template method was used to synthesize tannic-acid-templated mesoporous silica nanoparticles (TMSNs), and then dopamine functionalized TMSNs (Dop-TMSNs) which was synthesized by a facile and biomimetic coating strategy, was developed as a new sorbent for the removal of Cu²⁺ from aqueous solution. The Dop-TMSNs were thoroughly characterized by SEM, TEM, BET, FT-IR and TGA, and the effects of contact time, initial pH, K⁺ and Na⁺ concentrations, co-existing polyvalent metal ions and adsorption-desorption cycle times on the sorption capacity of Dop-TMSNs were studied. It was demonstrated that the maximum adsorption capacity of Cu²⁺ by Dop-TMSNs was 58.7 mg/g at pH 5.5, and the sorption reached equilibrium within 180 min. Moreover, the K⁺ and Na⁺ concentrations had a very slight influence on the sorption process and the adsorption capacity of the Dop-TMSNs still remained 89.2% after recycling for four times. All the results indicated that the Dop-TMSNs could be utilized as an excellent sorbent for the sequestration of Cu²⁺.

Nanoflower-like wrinkled mesoporous silica (NFMS) was prepared for further application as the carrier of polyethylene glycol (PEG) to fabricate the new, shape-stabilized phase change composites (PEG/NFMS); NFMS could improve the loading content of PEG in the PEG/NFMS. To investigate the properties of PEG/NFMS, characterization approaches, such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis, and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), were carried out. The characterization results illustrated that the PEG was completely adsorbed in the NFMS by physical adsorption, and the nanoflower-like wrinkled silica did not affect the crystal structure of PEG. As reported by the DSC test, although NFMS had a restriction influence on the activity of the PEG molecules, the melting and binding enthalpies of the PEG/NFMS could reach 136.6 J/g and 132.6 J/g, respectively. In addition, the TGA curves demonstrated that no evident weight loss was observed from 20 °C to 190 °C for the PEG/NFMS, and the results revealed that the PEG/NFMS had remarkable thermal stability. These results indicated that the NFMS is a potential carrier of organic phase change material for the preparation of shape-stabilized phase change composites.