title: Nanoporous polystyrene fibers for oil spill cleanup.
abstract: The development of oil sorbents with high sorption capacity, low cost, scalable fabrication, and high selectivity is of great significance for water environmental protection, especially for oil spillage on seawater. In this work, we report nanoporous polystyrene (PS) fibers prepared via a one-step electrospinning process used as oil sorbents for oil spill cleanup. The oleophilic-hydrophobic PS oil sorbent with highly porous structures shows a motor oil sorption capacity of 113.87 g/g, approximately 3-4 times that of natural sorbents and nonwoven polypropylene fibrous mats. Additionally, the sorbents also exhibit a relatively high sorption capacity for edible oils, such as bean oil (111.80 g/g) and sunflower seed oil (96.89 g/g). The oil sorption mechanism of the PS sorbent and the sorption kinetics were investigated. Our nanoporous material has great potential for use in wastewater treatment, oil accident remediation and environmental protection.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China.
authors.forename: Jinyou
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Yanwei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shang
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: Jianmao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Jianyong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Salem S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Al-Deyab
mesh_terms: D052918:Environmental Restoration and Remediation / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D009821:Oils / Q000737:chemistry; D059392:Petroleum Pollution; D011137:Polystyrenes / Q000737:chemistry*; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D009821:Oils; D011137:Polystyrenes; D014867:Water