Application of Low Cost Natural Rubber Films for Water Remediation

Pristine natural rubber (NR) and its composites including natural rubber-halloysite nanotube (NR-HNT) as well as natural rubber-silver (NR-Ag) have been prepared in the form of films for the decolorisation of dyes via adsorption as well as degradation. As an adsorbent, the flatsheet NR film was capable in adsorbing methylene blue (MB). However, incorporation of HNT into the films enhanced this property. It was found that the percentage of MB removal increased from 66% to 93% within 2 h when 10 wt% and 70 wt% HNT were incorporated respectively. The NR film was also able to function as a catalytic film in the presence of Ag. The flatsheet NR-Ag films degraded MB with Ag content of as low as 0.002 wt%. Furthermore, we show that the efficiency of these films can be improved by preparing porous NR films. This work shows how the function of NR can be altered by incorporating various fillers.