Magnetic, thermally stable, and superhydrophobic polyurethane sponge: A high efficient adsorbent for separation of the marine oil spill pollution

Herein, we demonstrated a facile method for the fabrication of magnetic and superhydrophobic polyurethane sponge with water contact angle of 159° as an adsorbent for cleanup the marine oil spill pollution. For this aim, a polyurethane sponge was coated with carbon black (CB), hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN)@Fe3O4, and acrylic resin and then characterized by different techniques. Owing to the chemical and thermal stability of h-BN and CB, the modified sponge was stable under corrosive conditions (pH = 1–14 and salt solutions) and at different temperatures (−12 °C–105 °C). In addition to common oils and organic solvents, we also used the real spilled oils containing monoaromatics and polyaromatics in the water surfaces of the Persian Gulf for investigation of adsorption efficiency of sponge in a real condition. The oil adsorption capacity of this sponge was in the range of 64–176 g g−1. Also, this adsorbent can separate high amount of oil or organic solvents up to 66,400 times of its own weight from the oil-water mixture in a continuous separation. The results confirm that modified sponge can be used more than 20 times for oil spill cleanup without considerable reduction of its adsorption capacity. Consequently, the modified sponge is a promising candidate material for use in a real oil-water separation process.