title: Magnetic and highly recyclable macroporous carbon nanotubes for spilled oil sorption and separation.
abstract: Development of sorbent materials with high selectivity and sorption capacity, easy collection and recyclability is demanding for spilled oil recovery. Although many sorption materials have been proposed, a systematic study on how they can be reused and possible performance degradation during regeneration remains absent. Here we report magnetic carbon nanotube sponges (Me-CNT sponge), which are porous structures consisting of interconnected CNTs with rich Fe encapsulation. The Me-CNT sponges show high mass sorption capacity for diesel oil reached 56 g/g, corresponding to a volume sorption capacity of 99%. The sponges are mechanically strong and oil can be squeezed out by compression. They can be recycled using through reclamation by magnetic force and desorption by simple heat treatment. The Me-CNT sponges maintain original structure, high capacity, and selectivity after 1000 sorption and reclamation cycles. Our results suggest that practical application of CNT macrostructures in the field of spilled oil recovery is feasible.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, School of Physics and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, PR China. guixch@mail.sysu.edu.cn
authors.forename: Xuchun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Gui
authors.forename: Zhiping
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.forename: Zhiqiang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Qiming
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Gan
authors.forename: Rong
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Xiang
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Anyuan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Zikang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Tang
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D052918:Environmental Restoration and Remediation / Q000295:instrumentation*; D017743:Equipment Reuse; D058185:Magnetite Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D009821:Oils / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D059392:Petroleum Pollution; D016062:Porosity; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000302:isolation & purification*
chemical_list: D058185:Magnetite Nanoparticles; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon; D009821:Oils; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical