A polyurethane (PU) sponge with excellent oil/water separation property has been successfully prepared by modifying with octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) self-assemblies.
A polyurethane (PU) sponge with hydrophobic/oleophilic property was prepared based on the thiol-ene click reaction, which was a simple method with only one step. Photopolymerization was induced through UV light on the sponge surface in a homogeneous solution containing polyethylene glycol diacrylate, pentaerythritol (mercaptoacetic acid) ester, 2-hydroxy-4 -(2-hydroxyethoxy)-2methylpropiophenone, and octadecyl methacrylate. The as-prepared sponge possessed excellent selective for oil from various types of oil/water mixtures. It also had a high absorption capacity for toluene, >21 times its self-weight, and it had about 20 times its self-weight for vegetable oil, even after five extrusion-adsorption cycles, presenting a good recyclability. It created a new method to prepare oil/water separation sponge.
Stimuli-responsive materials with switchable wettability have promising practical applications in oil/water separation. A novel CO 2 -responsive cotton fabric for controlled oil/water separation was fabricated based on mussel-inspired reaction and polymerized with 2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA). As expected, the modified fabric exhibited switchable hydrophilicity and hydrophobicity after CO 2 /N 2 alternation, and it could be used for gravity-driven CO 2 -controlled oil/water separation. Water was selectively penetrated through the fabric and separated from oil after treating by CO 2 . A reversed wettability could be generated through simply treated with N 2 . It is expected that the as-prepared fabrics could be applied in smart oil/water separation due to the attractive properties of CO 2 -switchable system.
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