The superhydrophobic sponge decorated with Ni-Co double layered oxides with thiol modification for continuous oil/water separation

In this paper, the superhydrophobic polyurethane sponge (SS-PU) was facilely fabricated by etching with Jones reagent to bind the nanoparticles of Ni-Co double layered oxides (LDOs) on the surface, and follow-ing modification with n-dodecyl mercaptan (DDT). This method provides a new strategy to fabricate superhydrophobic PU sponge with a water contact angle of 157 degrees for absorbing oil with low cost and in large scale. It exhibits the strong absorption capacity and highly selective characteristic for various kinds of oils which can be recycled by simple squeezing. Besides, the as-prepared sponge can deal with the floating and underwater oils, indicating its application value in handling oil spills and domestic oily wastewater. The good self-cleaning ability shows the potential to clear the pollutants due to the ultra-low adhesion to water. Especially, the most important point is that the superhydrophobic sponge can continuously and effectively separate the oil/water mixture against the condition of turbulent distur-bance by using our designed device system, which exhibit its good superhydrophobicity, strong stability. Furthermore, the SS-PU still maintained stable absorption performance after 150 cycle tests without los -ing capacity obviously, showing excellent durability in long-term operation and significant potential as an efficient absorbent in large-scale dispose of oily water. (c) 2022 The Chemical Industry and Engineering Society of China, and Chemical Industry Press Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

In this paper, a superhydrophobic polyurethane sponge (SS-PU) was fabricated by etching with Jones reagent and binding Ni-Co double layered oxides (LDOs) nanoparticles on the surface, followed by modification with n-dodecyl mercaptan (DDT). The SS-PU showed a water contact angle of 157 degrees and exhibited strong absorption capacity and selectivity for various oils. It also demonstrated good self-cleaning ability and the potential to handle oil spills and oily wastewater.