title: Joule-heated graphene-wrapped sponge enables fast clean-up of viscous crude-oil spill.
abstract: The clean-up of viscous crude-oil spills is a global challenge. Hydrophobic and oleophilic oil sorbents have been demonstrated as promising candidates for oil-spill remediation. However, the sorption speeds of these oil sorbents for viscous crude oil are rather limited. Herein we report a Joule-heated graphene-wrapped sponge (GWS) to clean-up viscous crude oil at a high sorption speed. The Joule heat of the GWS reduced in situ the viscosity of the crude oil, which prominently increased the oil-diffusion coefficient in the pores of the GWS and thus speeded up the oil-sorption rate. The oil-sorption time was reduced by 94.6% compared with that of non-heated GWS. Besides, the oil-recovery speed was increased because of the viscosity decrease of crude oil. This in situ Joule self-heated sorbent design will promote the practical application of hydrophobic and oleophilic oil sorbents in the clean-up of viscous crude-oil spills.
authors.affiliation: Division of Nanomaterials and Chemistry, Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, Hefei Science Center of CAS, Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China.
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.affiliation: Division of Nanomaterials and Chemistry, Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, Hefei Science Center of CAS, Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China.
authors.forename: Lu-An
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, Department of Modern Mechanics, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230027, China.
authors.forename: Yong-Chao
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Division of Nanomaterials and Chemistry, Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, Hefei Science Center of CAS, Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China.
authors.forename: Hao-Yu
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Division of Nanomaterials and Chemistry, Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, Hefei Science Center of CAS, Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China.
authors.forename: Hong-Bin
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, Department of Modern Mechanics, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230027, China.
authors.forename: Yin-Bo
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-9204-9300
authors.initials: YB
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Division of Nanomaterials and Chemistry, Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, Hefei Science Center of CAS, Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China.
authors.forename: Ye
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Division of Nanomaterials and Chemistry, Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, Hefei Science Center of CAS, Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China.
authors.forename: Hong-Wu
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, Department of Modern Mechanics, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230027, China.
authors.forename: Heng-An
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Division of Nanomaterials and Chemistry, Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, Hefei Science Center of CAS, Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China.
authors.forename: Shu-Hong
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-3732-1011
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Yu