Solar‐Assisted, Highly Efficient, and In Situ Recovery of Crude Oil Spill by FeCo₂S₄‐Modified Sponge

Abstract

Rapid cleanup of oil spill is becoming a great challenge since crude oil is hard to clean up by conventional porous oil sorbents because of its high viscosity. Herein, novel fabrication of a hydrophobic/oleophilic and photothermal polydopamine (PDA)/FeCo 2 S 4 /polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) coated polyurethane (PU) sponge using chemical polymerization and dip-coating methods is reported. The optimized composite sponge exhibits high hydrophobicity, high absorption capacity for oils and organic liquids, excellent chemical resistance, and stable recycling. Furthermore, PDA/FeCo 2 S 4 /PDMS@PU sponge shows outstanding photothermal conversion capability. Under sunlight irradiation, crude oil viscosity can be reduced by two orders of magnitude due to the rapid temperature rise in PDA/FeCo 2 S 4 /PDMS@PU sponge. In addition, a method of in situ pumping for uninterrupted recovery of oil spills from the water surface is designed. Benefiting from great mechanical performance and photothermal conversion capacity, the PDA/FeCo 2 S 4 /PDMS@PU sponge can be regarded as an ideal sorbent candidate for the collection of crude oil and treatment of largescale oil spill disasters.

Recent advances in functional micro/nanomaterials for removal of crude oil via thermal effects

“…He et al selected polyurethane (PU) sponge with high porosity, oleophilic properties, and good elasticity as the substrate. 119 After depositing a photothermal PDA layer to increase surface roughness, the PDA@PU sponge was dipped into the FeCo 2 S 4 /polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) mixed suspension. The favourable adhesion of PDMS helped FeCo 2 S 4 powder deposit on the scaffold surface, improved the mechanical stability of the sponge, and reduced the sponge surface energy to achieve water-repelling properties.…”

“…It is a green and energy-saving method to enhance the adsorption efficiency by increasing the temperature of the adsorbent and surrounding crude oil through the photothermal effect. 117–151…”

Coupling Carbon-Based Composite Phase Change Materials with a Polyurethane Sponge for Sustained and Efficient Solar-Driven Cleanup of Viscous Crude Oil Spill

“…As a kind of commercial porous adsorbents, melamine formaldehyde (MF) foam co-modified with reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and nano Fe 3 O 4 could rapidly absorb high-viscosity oil as a result of the double photothermal conversion of its nanocoating . Similarly, the synergetic photothermal conversion effects of PDA and FeCo 2 S 4 in the PDA/FeCo 2 S 4 /PDMS@PU sponge endow it with a rapid photo-response ability, which results in a significant reduction in the viscosity of oil and improved oil absorption . Even so, there are still many limitations in utilizing solar energy to recover oil spills because the light intensity and irradiation time cannot be maintained consistently (such as at night or in overcast and rainy days) .…”

“…25 Similarly, the synergetic photothermal conversion effects of PDA and FeCo 2 S 4 in the PDA/FeCo 2 S 4 /PDMS@PU sponge endow it with a rapid photo-response ability, which results in a significant reduction in the viscosity of oil and improved oil absorption. 26 Even so, there are still many limitations in utilizing solar energy to recover oil spills because the light intensity and irradiation time cannot be maintained consistently (such as at night or in overcast and rainy days). 1 As a result, a constant provision of heat is essential to efficiently clean up high-viscosity oil spills.…”