Covalent assembly of 3D graphene/polypyrrole foams for oil spill cleanup†
Abstract
Functionalized graphene oxide (KGO) sheets were covalently assembled with pyrrole and reduced to form a 3D foam structure via a multistep route through the hydrolytic condensation (cross-linking), polymerization reactions and hydrothermal reduction of graphene oxide (GO). The formed graphene/polypyrrole foam and its structures were analyzed using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The specific surface area and the total pore volume of the samples were measured using N2 adsorption. The graphene composite foams have a special 3D structure, with a wide range of macropores (from sub-μm to several hundred μm) and mesopores within. Due to the intrinsic covalent bonding between graphene sheets and the special 3D structure, not only were the sorption capacities of the graphene/polypyrrole foams determined to be very high for oil (>100 g g−1) and solvent, but also the sorption rate was very high.