High-efficiency ramie fiber degumming and self-powered degumming wastewater treatment using triboelectric nanogenerator

As one of the strongest and oldest natural fibers, ramie fiber has been widely used for fabric production for at least six thousand years. And degumming is a critical procedure that has been developed to hold the ramie fiber's shape, reduce wrinkling, and introduce a silky luster to the fabric appearance. Herein, we introduce a fundamentally new working principle into the field of ramie fiber degumming by using the triboelectric effect. Resort to a water-driven triboelectric nanogenerator (WD-TENG), the ramie fibers degumming efficiency was greatly enhanced with improved fiber quality, including both surface morphology and mechanical properties. Furthermore, it saves the chemicals usage in the traditional method, which makes it a green and practical approach to fully remove the noncellulosic compositions from ramie fibers. In addition, as a systematical study, the WD-TENG was further employed as a sustainable power source to electrochemically degrade the degumming wastewater by recycling the kinetic energy from flowing wastewater in a self-powered manner. Under a fixed current output of 3.5 mA and voltage output of 10 V, the self-powered cleaning system was capable of cleaning up to 90% of the pollutants in the wastewater in 120 min. Given the compelling features of being self-powered, environmentally friendly, extremely cost-effective, good stability, high degumming and degradation efficiency, the presented work renders an innovative approach for natural fiber extraction, and could be widely adopted as a green and innovative technology in textile industry. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.