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Highly efficient and reusable superhydrophobic 3D polyurethane nanocomposite foam for remediation of oil polluted water

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Abstract

The release of oil and organic pollutants into water bodies poses a severe environmental concern because they bioaccumulate and are difficult to degrade. In this study, an alternative polyurethane (PU) composite foam containing hydroxylated multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) was prepared using a dip-coating method. Adding MWCNTs and PDMS transformed the hydrophilic pristine PU foam to a superhydrophobic PU/CNT-PDMS, as evidenced by the substantial increase in the water contact angle value. Our work evaluated the performance of the foams containing different MWCNTs loading and PDMS concentrations in the oil-water separation process. The foam comprising of 6.97 wt% MWCNTs and 6.52 wt% PDMS, exhibited the highest absorption performance, with the maximum absorption capacity of 33.83 and 44.98 g/g for engine oil and acetone. The recyclability test showed that the PU/CNT-PDMS hybrid foam retained at least 90% of its initial oil absorption capacity after 10 absorption-desorption cycles. The PU/CNT-PDMS hybrid foam produced showed excellent absorption characteristics and was reusable, confirming its potential as a suitable candidate for efficiently removing oil and organic solvents from water.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

    Julius Attah Kadili, Abdul Halim Abdullah, Ili Syazana Johari, Norhazlin Zainuddin & Siti Nurul Ain Mohd Jamil

  2. Department of Chemistry, Kogi State College of Education (Technical), PMB 242, Kabba, Nigeria

    Julius Attah Kadili

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  1. Julius Attah Kadili
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Contributions

Conceptualization, AHA and ISJ; methodology, JAK, AHA, ISJ, NZ and SNAMJ.; formal analysis, JAK and AHA; investigation, JAK.; resources, JAK and AH A; data curation, JAK and AHA; writing—original draft preparation, JAK.; writing—review and editing, AHA, ISJ, NZ and SNAMJ.; visualization, JAK; supervision, AHA, ISJ, NZ and SNAMJ; project administration, AHA, ISJ, NZ and SNAMJ. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Abdul Halim Abdullah.

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Kadili, J.A., Abdullah, A.H., Johari, I.S. et al. Highly efficient and reusable superhydrophobic 3D polyurethane nanocomposite foam for remediation of oil polluted water. J Porous Mater 31, 449–461 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10934-023-01529-w

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