Magnetically Driven Superhydrophobic Polyurethane Sponge for High Efficiency Oil/Water Mixtures Separation

Magnetically driven super-hydrophobic materials were prepared by Fe3O4nanoparticles and stearic acid, which were deposited on the surface of polyurethane sponges. The presence of the Fe3O4nanoparticles makes the sponge have the magnetic, and the micro-nano hierarchical structure and hydrophobic functional groups lead to the sponge have excellent superhydrophobicity. The as-prepared sponge exhibited excellent absorption capacities for various oils and organic solvents ranging from 23.8 times to 86.7 times of its own weight. Moreover, the oil separation capacities still keep a high value after 50 cycles of squeezing the saturated absorbed as-prepared sponge. All of these satisfactory properties make the as-prepared sponge as a candidate of ideal absorbents for oily industrial wastewater and oil spills in oceans.