Superhydrophobic hBN-Regulated Sponges with Excellent Absorbency Fabricated Using a Green and Facile Method.
The world faces severe environmental, human and ecological problems when major oil spills and organic discharges are released into the environment. And so it is imperative to develop tools and high performance innovative materials that can efficiently absorb these organic discharges. Furthermore, green, facile methods to produce these advanced materials are also needed. In this paper, we demonstrate a novel porous supersponge based on melamine coated with hBN. This superhydrophobic sponge (with a contact angle >150°) exhibits excellent absorption performance for oils and organic solvents, including good selectivity, high capacity (up to 175 g·g-1) and extraordinary recyclability (less than 20% decline after 30 cycles of absorption/squeezing). The synthetic procedure required only ultrasonication and immersion of the sponge in aqueous hBN solution, being a green, cost-effective and scalable production methodology. By virtue of the straightforward and cost-effective fabrication method, along with the excellent absorption performance, hBN-decorated sponges have great promise for real world practical application in the field of oil spills and organic leakage cleanup.
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang, 212003, P R China.
Ying
Y
Zhou
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang, 212003, P R China.
Yao
Y
Wang
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang, 212003, P R China.
Tengfei
T
Liu
School of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang, 212003, P R China.
Gang
G
Xu
Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, 100190, P R China.
Guangming
G
Chen
Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, 100190, P R China.
Huayi
H
Li
College of Biological, Chemical Sciences and Engineering, Jiaxing University, Jiaxing, 314001, P R China.
Lichun
L
Liu
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang, 212003, P R China.
Qiqi
Q
Zhuo
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang, 212003, P R China.
Jiaoxia
J
Zhang
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang, 212003, P R China.
Chao
C
Yan
D000818:Animals; D001896:Boron Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry / Q000648:ultrastructure; D011161:Porifera / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction
D001896:Boron Compounds; C017282:boron nitride