A novel approach simultaneously imparting well-hydrophobicity and photothermal conversion effect to polymer materials: solar-promoted absorption of organic solvents and oils

Wei Cai; Zhaoxin Li; Ying Pan; Xiaming Feng; Longfei Han; Tianyang Cui; Yuan Hu; Weizhao Hu

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2022.129446

A novel approach simultaneously imparting well-hydrophobicity and photothermal conversion effect to polymer materials: solar-promoted absorption of organic solvents and oils

J Hazard Mater. 2022 Sep 5:437:129446. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2022.129446. Epub 2022 Jun 22.

Authors

Wei Cai¹, Zhaoxin Li², Ying Pan³, Xiaming Feng⁴, Longfei Han², Tianyang Cui², Yuan Hu¹, Weizhao Hu⁵

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Fire Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, PR China; Suzhou Institute for Advanced Study, University of Science and Technology of China, Suzhou 215000, PR China.
² State Key Laboratory of Fire Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, PR China.
³ College of Materials and Environmental Engineering, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou 310018, PR China.
⁴ College of Materials Science and Engineering, Chongqing University, 174 Shazhengjie, Chongqing 400044, PR China.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Fire Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, PR China. Electronic address: hwz1988@ustc.edu.cn.

PMID: 35897192
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2022.129446

Abstract

In this work, a series of polymer materials including pomelo peel, cotton fabric, polyurethane foam, and so on, are treated by heated CH₃SiCl₃, presenting desirable photo-thermal conversion function and hydrophobicity. As a representative material, the surface element and skeleton morphology of pomelo peel foam treated by CH₃SiCl₃ are analyzed detailedly. It is found that well-hydrophobicity (water contact angle of ~147°) and photo-thermal conversion performance (~91.2 °C under one sun) are attributed to the surface carbonization reaction and formation of CH₃-SiO₂ nanoparticles. Meanwhile, the treatment of CH₃SiCl₃ significantly increases the BET surface area to 3.0635 m²/g from 0.0973 m²/g. Therefore, pomelo peel-derived carbon foam presents a desirable adsorption capacity of organic solvents and oils (up to 43.2 times its original weight) and excellent removal efficiency (>99.0%). In addition, the rapid photo-thermal response (achieve ~73 °C at 40 s) and high equilibrium temperature (~91.2 °C) are als° demonstrated in pomelo peel-derived carbon foam. As a result, the absorption rate of highly-viscous oils is effectively promoted by the higher fluidity and capillary action caused by the solar-promoted mechanism. This study offers a scalable, easily operated, and environmentally friendly approach to prepare hydrophobic and photo-thermal materials, thus demonstrating a huge potential in oil/water separation application.

Keywords: Absorption of organic contaminants; Hydrophobicity; Oil/water separation; Photo-thermal conversion effect; Polymer materials.