Novel Ti3C2Tx MXene wrapped wood sponges for fast cleanup of crude oil spills by outstanding Joule heating and photothermal effect

Remediation of crude oil spills is a great challenge owing to the poor mobility and high viscosity of crude oil. Herein, a porous polydimethylsiloxane@wood sponge/MXene (PDMS@WSM) with outstanding compressibility and hydrophobic/lipophilic ability was demonstrated as crude oil absorbent. The surface temperature of PDMS@WSM could quickly rise to 80 degrees C with a working voltage of 4 V and to 66 degrees C under simulated sunlight irradiation of 1.5 KW m(2), respectively. Due to the excellent Joule heating and photothermal conversion effect, the PDMS@WSM displayed maximum adsorption capacity of 11.2x10(5) g m(3) within 6 min. The PDMS@WSM showed preferable reusability and cycle stability because of its brilliant compressibility. Moreover, the oil-collecting device based on PDMS@WSM could continuously collect crude oil spills, achieving an active collection of 25 mL crude oil within 150 s. Therefore, the porous PDMS@WSM absorbent exhibited great potential for crude oil spills remediation, energy regulation, and desalination of hypersaline water. (C) 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The newly developed porous PDMS@WSM absorbent, demonstrated excellent compressibility and oil absorption ability, exhibited efficient oil adsorption within a short period of time. The absorbent showed good reusability and cycle stability, making it widely applicable in crude oil spill remediation and other environmental cleaning fields.