Facile fabrication of asphaltene-derived graphene-polyurethane sponges for efficient and selective oil-water separation

ABSTRACT

Based on the natural graphene-structure in the raw asphaltene material, a graphene-polyurethane sponge (GPU) oil-absorption material was prepared via a facile and inexpensive route of dip-coated sponge carbonization, which used low-value petroleum asphlatene as the dip-coating reagent and polyurethane sponges as the template. The GPU presents high hydrophobic and super oleophilic properties, as well as the excellent oil absorption performance. And its chloroform absorption capacity could reach 123 times its original mass, which is significantly higher than that of most reported oil absorbents. Furthermore, the GPU exhibits good recyclability. It has the promising applications in the pollution control of spilt oil.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Asphaltene
• dip-coating
• graphene-polyurethane sponge
• oil absorption
• recyclability

Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge many co-workers, students, and laboratory assistants for providing technical help on instrument analysis. Thanks Dr. Edward C. Mignot, Shandong University, for linguistic advice.

Additional information

Funding

We appreciate the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51608511).