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A facile energy-efficient approach to prepare super oil-sorbent thin films

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submitted on 2024-08-15, 08:52 and posted on 2024-08-15, 08:54 authored by Junaid Saleem, Moghal Zubair Khalid Baig, Adriaan S. Luyt, Rana Abdul Shakoor, Ahsan Hafeez, Insharah Ahsan, Snigdhendubala Pradhan, Mujaheed Pasha, Gordon McKay

Oil spills on water surface and shoreline have caused significant water pollution, and one of the ways to deal with them is to use oil sorbents. An effective sorbent provides high oil uptake and retention values, high selectivity, super-fast uptake kinetics, and sufficient mechanical strength to ensure practical application under different conditions. In this regard, synthetic sorbents made up of graphene, carbon nanotubes, and polymers in the form of aerogels, thin films, pads, and non-woven fibers have been widely explored. However, none of them addresses all the attributes of an ideal oil sorbent. Aerogels provide extremely high uptake values, but they are so light that it is difficult for the end user to handle them. On the other hand, thin films and non-woven fibers can quickly absorb oil but suffer from low uptake capacity with low retention values. Similarly, commercial oil sorbent pads have sufficient mechanical strength, but low uptake capacity compared to aerogels. Herein, we present a super oil sorbent with a porous structure using a facile energy-efficient approach. The as-prepared sorbent comprises a porous thin film with micropores and macro-cavities, resulting in super-fast uptake kinetics and a high oil uptake value of 85 g/g. Moreover, tensile test results confirm sorbent’s effectiveness in spill response. Lastly, our unique design does not involve expensive hydrophobic functionalization and thus utilizes lower embodied energy and generates lower carbon footprints.

Other Information

Published in: Energy Reports
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
See article on publisher's website: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.egyr.2022.12.098

Funding

Qatar National Research Fund (NPRP12S-0325-190443), From Waste to Wealth: Eco-Friendly production of super-sorbents from plastic waste.

History

Language

  • English

Publisher

Elsevier

Publication Year

  • 2023

License statement

This Item is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Institution affiliated with

  • Hamad Bin Khalifa University
  • College of Science and Engineering - HBKU
  • Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute - HBKU
  • Qatar University
  • Center for Advanced Materials - QU

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