Abstract
Hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC) was introduced to activate the surface of polyurethane (PU) sponge to successfully prepare a hydrophobic ternary composite PU/HEC/SiO2. The hydrophobic layer of the composite was realized by in-situ polymerization of methyltriethoxysilane (MTES) onto the surface of PU sponge. The formation of a stable hydrophobic SiO2 layer solved successfully the problem of ease of SiO2 particles shedding from the composite. Moreover, the amphiphilic molecules produced by the hydrolysis of MTES monomers facilitated the preparation of hydrophobic materials by aqueous dispersion polymerization. Aqueous synthesis made the reaction process environmentally-friendly and pollution-free. The as-prepared composite PU/HEC/SiO2 not only retains high porosity and low density of the PU sponge, but also considerably reduced the surface free energy and increased the surface roughness of the PU sponge. Therefore, outstanding hydrophobicity and high porosity endow the composite with excellent oil removal capability as a high-efficiency absorbent. Moreover, the hydrophobic composite that had absorbed oil could be regenerated easily by squeezing and recycling.
Highlights
With the development of offshore oil exploitation and ocean transportation, marine pollution accidents involving petroleum occur frequently, seriously destroying the environment and posing a threat to human health [1]
The cracks during the making of SEM samples and the Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra of PU/Hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC) sample proved that HEC was successfully modified in-situ on the surface of PU (Figure 3b)
In the practical application of oil-water separation, the acid and alkali resistance of materials is a very important technical index to measure the performance of the absorbent
Summary
With the development of offshore oil exploitation and ocean transportation, marine pollution accidents involving petroleum occur frequently, seriously destroying the environment and posing a threat to human health [1]. Commercial resins [5,6,7], fibers [8,9,10], mineral products [11,12], and other absorption materials [13,14] are deemed cheap and easy to obtain, and have been developed and widely used in oil-water separation applications These traditional absorbents have some shortcomings, such as poor selectivity, low absorptivity, difficulty in large-scale manufacturing, and complex. Yuan et al reported an organic-inorganic composite—hierarchical hollow SiO2 @MnO2 cube-reinforced elastic PU foam for oil-water saperation [41] These nanoparticles containing heavy metals (Mn4+ ) are inclined to move away from the surface of the complex during long-term utilization process, causing secondary pollution. We provide a facile and green strategy to prepare the ternary PU/HEC/SiO2 composite, which has potential applications in the field of oil-water separation
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