Robust superhydrophobic polyurethane sponge as a highly reusable oil-absorption material

Abstract

The fabrication of robust superhydrophobic 3D porous materials is of great importance for both academic research and industrial applications. The main challenge is the poor adhesion between porous substrates and superhydrophobic coatings. In this study, a robust superhydrophobic polysiloxane layer was coated onto the surface of 3D porous polyurethane sponges through a one-step solution immersion method.The durability of the resulting sponges was investigated by repeated mechanical compressions, ultrasonication in polar solvents, and strong acid/alkali attacks. Results revealed that the superhydrophobic sponges showed excellent elasticity, high mechanical durability and good chemical stability. By combining the special wettability and high porosity, the sponges exhibited high oilabsorption capacity and high selectivity when they were employed as absorptive materials for cleaning oils on the water surface. More importantly, the superhydrophobic sponges could be reused for oil-water separation for more than 300 cycles without losing their superhydrophobicity, exhibiting the highest reusability and durability among the reported counterparts. Therefore, the present study offers a simple and low-cost strategy for large-scale fabrication of robust superhydrophobic 3D porous materials that might be applied to the cleanup of oil spills on the water surface.

Facile fabrication of wear-resistant multifunctional surfaces on titanium alloy substrate by one-step anodization and modification with silicon dioxide nanoparticles

“…Meanwhile, the mechanical properties of the silicon oxygen bond are stable [23][24][25]. Hydroxide radicals on the silicon dioxide surface might cause agglomeration [26,27], which would have a bad effect on the modification.…”

Highly recyclable superhydrophobic sponge suitable for the selective sorption of high viscosity oil from water

“…Despite this, the oil sorbent based on sponge with special 3D porous structure demonstrates great application prospect due to their high uptake capacity, low price, and excellent flexibility. Recently, there is a growing attention about the fabrication of superhydrophobic sponges for the cleanup of oil by various methods (Sun et al, 2013;Zhu et al, 2013;Nguyen et al, 2012;Gao et al, 2014;Chen and Pan, 2013). However, owing to the weak adhesion between micro/nanostructured layer and sponge skeletons, the hydrophobic layer is easily detached from the skeletons of sponges in repeated use processes, which limits its practical applications.…”

Thermal reduction of graphene-oxide-coated cotton for oil and organic solvent removal

“…Among them, absorbents have emerged as potential materials for effective removal of organic solvents and oils from oceans and rivers because they meet the demands of water purification and oil spill cleanup [4][5][6][7][8][9]. Generally, absorbent materials that have been investigated for use in organic solvent and oil removal include polymeric sponges [10][11][12][13], inorganicbased materials [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21], and carbon-based materials [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30].…”