Solar-Assisted, Fast, and in Situ Recovery of Crude Oil Spill by a Superhydrophobic and Photothermal Sponge

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-12-2021

School

Polymer Science and Engineering

Abstract

Development of a functional sorbent for effective crude oil absorption is essential to address large-scale spilling incidents. Herein, we demonstrate a facile method for preparing a superhydrophobic and photothermal PDMS/CuS/PDA@MF sponge through sequential depositions of PDA, CuS nanoparticles, and a PDMS layer onto a melamine sponge. The optimized composite sponge exhibits a superhydrophobic surface property, high absorption capacity for oils, robust recycling, and excellent photothermal conversion performance. Under sunlight irradiation, the sponge can be rapidly heat up for effectively reducing the viscosity of the surrounding crude oil in order to enhance its fluidity. As a result, uptake of crude oil can be achieved continuously at approximately 5.3 g/min using a peristaltic pump. Overall, we believe that a simple fabrication method from low-cost reagents and excellent crude oil remediation performance render the PDMS/CuS/PDA@MF sponge as an excellent sorbent candidate for remediating crude oil spill.

Publication Title

ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces

Volume

13

Issue

18

First Page

21175

Last Page

21185

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