Graphene-Coated Poly(ethylene terephthalate) Nonwoven Hollow Tube for Continuous and Highly Effective Oil Collection from the Water Surface

Graphene (GE) has attracted significant attention on account of its unique structure and superior performance, arousing a new research field for materials science. Herein, a novel GE-coated poly(ethylene terephthalate) nonwoven (PGNW) hollow tube (PGNW-T) was fabricated for continuous and highly effective oil collection from the water surface. The PGNW was prepared via a dip-spray coating method, which possessed superhydrophobicity-superoleophilicity and could absorb a variety of oils or organic solvents with the absorption capacity (Q) value of 18-34 times its own weight. Then, PGNW-T was obtained through winding the PGNW on the surface of a porous polypropylene hollow tube. As-prepared PGNW-T was competent for dynamic oil collection with high flux (18 799.94 L/m(2)h), outstanding separation efficiency (97.14%), and excellent recyclability (>96% after 10 cycles) from the oil/water mixture. In particular, a miniature device based on as-prepared PGNW-T was developed for continuous thin oil film collection, which could dynamically catch up floated oils or organic solvents from the water surface. Finally, our strategy is extremely facile to scale up, showing its huge potential application in practical oil-spill remediation.