The interest in multifunctional textile materials has been increased due to the health and safety measures of living beings, especially in severe conditions. Therefore, this study investigated the hydrophobicity, oil sorption capacity, and bending properties of untreated or uncoated and treated or coated 3D weft-knitted spacer fabric samples (92% polyester/8% spandex), i.e. sample 1, sample 2, and sample 3, having thicknesses of 2 mm (300 gm−2), 3 mm (350 gm−2), and 4 mm (540 gm−2), with silica aerogels (SAs) through the sol-gel method. SEM, FTIR-ATR, and surface roughness test of fabric samples were analyzed to comprehend the influence of SAs. The experimental results revealed the excellent hydrophobicity and oleophilicity of all the treated 3D weft-knitted spacer fabric samples, providing a higher water contact angle (CA) 142 ± 0.84° and an oil sorption capacity 7.51 ± 0.08g/g and 6.88 ± 0.06g/g for vegetable oil and engine oil, especially of sample 2 owing to the most silica particles. The statistical analysis also demonstrated a significant performance (P < 0.05) of treated spacer fabric samples at the 0.05 level. Thus, these fabrics are suitable for an industrial application of hydrophobic and oleophilic properties.

With increasing industrial development, frequent oil spillages in water; therefore, it is imperative and challenging to develop absorbents materials that are eco-efficiency, cost-effective, and pollution prevention. In this study, sorbents obtained from Lignin incorporated with Polypropylene in different levels loading 0, 10, 20 % wt using thermally induced phase separation Technique (TIPS). The Polypropylene/Lignin blend monoliths were fabricated and compared in terms of morphological, thermal, and wetting characterizations. The successfully blending of different lignin concentrations with preserved the chemical structure of the polymer was confirmed by FTIR analysis. Thermogravimetric tests displayed that the existence of Lignin has changed the onset temperature (Tonset) of the blending sorbents, decreasing as the loading of Lignin is increased. The contact angle measurement showed a decrease in the hydrophobicity of sorbents with increasing lignin loading, Polypropylene/Lignin blend monoliths showed better absorption toward oils (soybean – engine) as compared to Polypropylene itself. PP10L showed an improvement in the oil sorption capacity around 2 times compared to the Polypropylene. These excellent features make Polypropylene/Lignin blend monoliths more competitive promising candidates than commercial absorbent.

Polypropylene is widely used in oil spillage cleanup due to excellent characteristics. However, polypropylene is not renewable and biodegradable, which is unacceptable to introduce new pollutants while solving environmental disasters. Therefore, there is a high demand to explore a low-cost, environmentally friendly, and renewable technique for the fabrication of porous materials. In this work, lignin was chosen as the second blend in the polymer matrix. Polypropylene and renewable lignin sponges were successfully prepared using simple, inexpensive, controllable, scalable, and an environment-friendly method named thermally induced phase separation (TIPS). The surface morphology of obtained sponges was investigated using FTIR and SEM. FTIR analysis indicated that PP and lignin were physically blended. SEM analysis observed an interconnected porous network that acts as a capture site of oil, and lignin merged into PP. The contact angle of PP, PP5L, PP10L, PP15L, and PP20L was found to be 127.4°, 118.71°, 113.89°, 109.45°, and 107°, respectively. Furthermore, polypropylene/lignin sponges have good adsorption ability toward oils compared to polypropylene itself. The research detected that the highest oil sorption tests exhibited by PP10L sponge, which could absorb 983% of soybean oil, 788% of engine oil, and 550% of lubricating oil in the oil system, with high oil retention more than 90% after 24-h dripping. Besides, the results revealed that temperature has a significant effect on oil absorption. All of these features make polypropylene/lignin blend sponges promising sorbents for the oil spills cleanup, not only for oil recovery but also helps in cleaning the environment.

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Compositing is an interesting strategy that has always been employed to introduce or enhance desired functionalities in material systems. In this paper, sponges containing polypropylene, lignin, and octavinyl-polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (OV-POSS) were successfully prepared via an easy and elegant strategy called thermally induced phase separation (TIPS). To fully explore the behaviour of different components of prepared sponges, properties were characterized by a thermogravimetric analyser (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Fourier transform infrared measurement (FTIR), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Furthermore, wettability properties toward an organic liquid and oil were investigated. The FTIR analysis confirmed the chemical modification of the components. TGA and DSC measurements revealed thermal stability was much better with an increase in OV-POSS content. OV-POSS modified sponges exhibited ultra-hydrophobicity and high oleophilicity with water contact angles of more than 125°. The SEM revealed that POSS molecules acted as a support for reduced surface roughness. Moreover, OV-POSS-based blend sponges showed higher sorption capacities compared with other blend sponges without OV-POSS. The new blend sponges demonstrated a potential for use as sorbent engineering materials in water remediation.

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