Scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Beijing; www.cas.ac.cn) have found a way to transform polyurethane (PU) foam into a sponge that is strongly water-repellent and oil-absorbing, making it suitable for soaking up chemicals and petroleum from spills. One of the Chinese scientists, Zhaozhu Zhang, says that sponges previously developed to absorb oil from spills also soak up water as well, so their absorption capacity is not fully utilized to remove the oil. And although several superhydrophobic and superoliophilic materials have been prepared in the past, they require complex and time-consuming methods to make them, and they exhibit low stability and flexibility, as well as poor absorption capacity and poor recyclability, says Zhang.
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