Wood-inspired superelastic MXene aerogels with superior photothermal conversion and durable superhydrophobicity for clean-up of super-viscous crude oil

It remains a great challenge to develop functional aerogels with superior mechanical robustness, durable superhydrophobicity, and excellent photothermal conversion ability for the promising next generation of oil/water separation materials and energy regulation systems. Herein, inspired by wood structures, we proposed a facile strategy to develop MXene aerogels with super-elasticity, self-cleaning, excellent joule heating and superior photothermal conversion ability. Functionalized cellulose nanocrystal was synthesized via green mechanochemistry, which served as a wetting modifier and dispersant. MXene was applied to construct functional networks in waterborne polyurethane. With fine-tuning of nucleation-driving, the desirable microstructures could be controllably diversified for structure-adaptable functionality. The wood-inspired MXene aerogel showed durable superhydrophobicity (CA ≈ 152°), mechanical superelasticity (76.2% strain remaining after 100 compress-release cycles), highly efficient absorption capacity of light oil (63 g/g) and superior photothermal conversion ability. Also, the as-prepared MXene aerogel demonstrated ultrahigh viscosity crude oil (c.a.130000 mPa.s) absorption capacity of 24.5 g/g under 1 sun irradiation and recyclability of 76% after 5 cycles, much higher than those of the reported. This study provides a promising strategy for constructing integrated multifunctional aerogels with superior mechanical robustness to meet the increasing demands in many fields such as energy regulation devices and crude oil absorbents.