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A superhydrophobic monolithic material with tunable wettability for oil and water separation

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Abstract

The development of a convenient method for oil-removal is of great significance for environmental protection. Here, we present a simple method for the removal of oils from water surface based on sponges that we fabricated by solution-immersion processes. The sponges exhibited high selectivity and absorption capacities for various kinds of oils when they were employed as absorptive materials. More importantly, the superhydrophobic sponge could be sustained 400 cycles of compressing test without losing their superhydrophobicity, exhibiting the high elasticity, robustness, and durability. To extend application field, superhydrophobic filter paper was used for oil–water separation. Interestingly, tunable wettability was received when oleophobic silica was employed instead of hydrophobic silica. We expected that this low-cost process can be used for oil-spill cleanup.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the financial support of the National Nature Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51335010).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Solid Lubrication, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianshui Road 18th, Lanzhou, 730000, People’s Republic of China

    Bo Ge, Xuehu Men, Xiaotao Zhu & Zhaozhu Zhang

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100039, People’s Republic of China

    Bo Ge & Xiaotao Zhu

Authors
  1. Bo Ge
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  2. Xuehu Men
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  3. Xiaotao Zhu
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  4. Zhaozhu Zhang
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Correspondence to Xuehu Men or Zhaozhu Zhang.

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Ge, B., Men, X., Zhu, X. et al. A superhydrophobic monolithic material with tunable wettability for oil and water separation. J Mater Sci 50, 2365–2369 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-014-8756-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-014-8756-4

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