Superhydrophobic polyurethane sponges modified by sepiolite for efficient oil-water separation.

The oil spill and the illegal discharge of organic solvents not only cause the waste of resources but also damage to the ecological environment, so it is very important to deal with it immediately. In this paper, the natural sepiolite（SEP） was modified by vinyltriethoxysilane(VTES) and 3-chloropropyltriethoxysilane(CTES) to gain excellent hydrophobicity. Then the modified superhydrophobic sepiolite（MSEP） powder was loaded onto the three-dimensional polyurethane(PU) sponge by repetitive dipping and drying. The water contact angle of MSEP@PUsponge reached 155°, and its adsorption capacity for various oils and organic solvents was 26–71 times higher than its own weight. After 15 cycles of squeeze-adsorption, the adsorption capacity of MSEP@PUsponge just decreased slightly for n-hexane, rice oil, diesel oil and chloroform. Moreover, after continuous separation of the diesel and water mixture for 10 times, MSEP@PUsponge still showed hydrophobicity. At the same time, the prepared sponges showed excellent stability under extreme environment and good mechanical property after 200 compression cycles. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]