Abstract
Naturally abundant vermiculite clay was expanded by using an aqueous solution of H2O2 and its surface was modified with ultra-thin polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) using facile thermal vapor deposition to prepare an ecologically friendly, low-cost oil sorbent that plays an important role in oil spillage remediation. The resulting PDMS-coated expanded vermiculite (eVMT@PDMS) particles exhibited adequate hydrophobicity and oleophilicity for oil/water separation, with numerous conical slit pores (a size of 0.1–100 μm) providing a great sorption capacity and an efficient capillarity-driven flow pathway for oil collection. Simply with using a physically-packed eVMT@PDMS tube (or pouch), selective oil removals were demonstrated above and beneath the surface of the water. Furthermore, these sorbents were successfully integrated and then applied to the advanced oil-collecting devices such as a barrel-shaped oil skimmer and a self-primed oil pump.
Highlights
Hydrophobic and oleophilic sorbents have attracted extensive interest for oil/water separation tasks
Inspired by the superhydrophobic surfaces of the lotus leaf and the water strider’s leg, various biomimetic materials with superhydrophobicity and superoleophilicity have been studied for high-performance oil sorbents [1,2,3]
Many oil sorbents have been developed with using various host materials, including nanoparticles [4], polymer fabrics [5,6], nanowire membranes [7], metal meshes [8,9], polymer sponges [10,11,12], and carbon-based porous materials [13,14]
Summary
Hydrophobic and oleophilic sorbents have attracted extensive interest for oil/water separation tasks. Many oil sorbents have been developed with using various host materials, including nanoparticles [4], polymer fabrics [5,6], nanowire membranes [7], metal meshes [8,9], polymer sponges [10,11,12], and carbon-based porous materials [13,14] These sorbents have greatly improved oil separation efficiency and sorption capacity, some crucial issues such as chemical inertness, fire resistance, mechanical stability and ecological friendliness must be resolved before the sorbents are applied to real oil spillage or chemical leakage accidents. Since the cleanup processes usually requires a large quantity of sorbents, low-cost mineral [15,16], biomass [17] and waste paper [18] become a promising host matrix of sorbents
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