Synthesis of magnetic, durable and superhydrophobic carbon sponges for oil/water separation.

Graphical abstract A facile and low-cost approach is developed to fabricate magnetic, durable, and superhydrophobic carbon sponges, which facilitate potential applications in oil/water separation and remote controlled oil removal from oil spills. Highlights • Magnetic superhydrophobic carbon sponges (MSCS) were fabricated via a facile and low-cost approach. • MSCS can act as "smart absorbents" to adsorb oils from oil-water mixtures. • MSCS exhibit stable adsorption efficiencies and recyclability, as well as robust durability against harsh environment. Abstract The clean-up of oil spills is a worldwide challenge for the prevention of serious environmental pollution. Therefore, it is imperative to develop materials for oil-spill cleanup that have high absorption/separation capacity, good selectivity, controlled collection and easy recyclability. Here, we present a facile and low-cost approach for fabricating magnetic, durable, and superhydrophobic carbon sponges. The resultant carbon sponges feature fast magnetic response, excellent superhydrophobicity/superoleophilicity, high chemical resistance, environmental stability and mechanical durability, as well as high oil/water separation efficiency and oil absorbency. More importantly, given the magnetically controllable property endowed by magnetic particles to superhydrophobic carbon sponges, which act as magnetically controlled "smart absorbents", the carbon sponges can therefore controllably and selectively adsorb oils from oil-water mixtures. Thus, our strategy may open up a new avenue for developing magnetic responsive intelligent oil sorbent materials suitable for practical applications in the fields of water remediation, oil spill clean-up and oil recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]