Superhydrophobic magnetic Fe3O4 polyurethane sponges for oil–water separation and oil-spill recovery

摘要

The effective and affordable separation of oil and water,a crucial process in the safe han dling of environmental disasters such as crude oil spills and recovery of valuable resources is a highly sought-after yet challenging task.Herein,superhydrophobic PU sponge was fab ricated for the fast and cost-effective adsorptive separation of oil and different organic sol vents from water.Octadecyltrichlorosilane （OTS）-functionalized Fe3O4@SiO2core–shell mi crospheres were dip-coated on the surface of porous materials via a dip-coating process thereby endowing them with superhydrophobicity.Owing to the hydrophobic interaction between OTS molecules and oil and increased capillary force in the micropores,the result ing superhydrophobic sponge served as a selective oil-sorbent scaffold for absorbing oil from oil–water mixtures,including oil–water suspensions and emulsions.Remarkably,after the recovery of the adsorbed oil via mechanical extrusion,these superhydrophobic materials could be reused multiple times and maintain their oil–water separation efficacy even afte10 oil–water separation cycles.