A superhydrophobic 3D porous material for oil spill cleanup

Abstract

Oil spills are a serious threat to environment and marine ecosystems; hence, it is urgent to identify an economic and efficient countermeasure to deal with them. In this work, a kind of superhydrophobic 3D porous material is fabricated for oil spill cleanup. Oil is selectively absorbed in the material at first, and then sucked by a pump. The superhydrophobicity and factors influencing oil collection rates are studied. The results show that the water contact-angle is 155°, and the oil collection rate can reach 2.8 g s⁻¹ under appropriate conditions. A plurality of these materials can be connected to a similar pump simultaneously, forming a network for oil cleanup. As the 3D material together with the pumping method can realize a continuous cleanup with high efficiency, it can be thought of as a promising candidate for oil spill cleanup applications.