Graphite powder coated polyurethane sponge hollow tube as a high-efficiency and cost-effective oil-removal materials for continuous oil collection from water surface

In this study, the cost-effective graphite powder (GPd)-coated polyurethane (PGPd-PU) sponge hollow tube (PGPd-PUHT) was prepared for high-efficient continuous oil removal, the hydrophobicity-superoleophilicity PGPd-PU sponge was fabricated through a simple dip-coating method, which dipping PU sponge into GPd dispersion and drying, then coating polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) on sponge skeleton, as-prepared sponge could selectively absorb a variety of oils up to 34 times of its own weight for dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). The PGPd-PUHT was prepared via wrapping PGPd-PU sponge on porous tubular support. The obtained PGPd-PUHT could continuously collect various types of oils from water surface with flux as high as 1.52 kL/m²h, and excellent separation efficiency (up to 97.7%) for toluene, as well as remarkable reusability. Moreover, a continuous floating oil collection device based on PGPd-PUHT was designed which showed excellent floating oil collection ability. In addition, our strategy possesses the advantages of low cost, simple preparation, highly efficient, and easily scale-up, showing a great potential for dealing with practical oil spill remediation. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2020 , 137, 48921.