Superhydrophobic carbon black-loaded polyurethane sponge for efficient oil-water separation and solar-driven cleanup of high-viscosity crude oil

Abstract

In recent years, spills of petroleum and organic chemicals have frequently occurred during their transportation at sea, which has caused serious pollution for water resources. In view of this, a superhydrophobic PU/CB@FAS sponge with excellent photothermal conversion performance was prepared, and its microscopic morphology and wettability were investigated in this paper. The results showed that the skeleton of PU/CB@FAS sponge was covered with a layer of CB nanoparticles, and elements such as F and Si were found on the skeleton surface. Subsequently, the water contact angle of the PU/CB@FAS sponge was measured to be 151°and the sponge was able to separate oil-water mixtures in different ways. When the sponge was used as an adsorbent material, its saturation capacity was 27.11–59.96 g·g−1 for low-viscosity oils/organic solvents such as soybean oil. Finally, the PU/CB@FAS sponge's photothermal conversion performance was investigated at a light power density of 1 sun (1.0 kW/m2), and the sponge's adsorption capacity for crude oil was increased by 15 times compared with the condition of without light. Thus, the PU/CB@FAS sponge successfully achieved rapid oil-water separation and adsorption for high-viscosity crude oil, showing a broad practical application prospect.