A Strategy of Liquid‐Grafted Slippery Sponges with Simultaneously Enhanced Absorption and Desorption Performances for Crude Oil Spill Remediation

Abstract Crude oil spill accidents pose a worldwide environmental threat. Oleophilic and hydrophobic absorbents that can selectively absorb oil from water have shown promising application potential in oil spill remediation. Simultaneous optimization of the absorption and desorption speed of absorbents towards oil is highly desirable for their recyclable usage, but remains a great challenge, because these two properties are generally conflicting. Here, a facile and ingenious strategy is proposed to tackle the above challenge via surface modification of porous sponges with highly flexible linear polydimethylsiloxane (LPDMS) brushes. The LPDMS brushes feature liquid‐like properties at room temperature owing to its extremely low glass transition temperature, and act as a covalently‐grafted lubrication layer throughout the 3D network channels of the sponge, which can minimize contact angle hysteresis and reduce friction between oil and sponge channel. Compared to the prevalent cross‐linked polydimethylsiloxane (CPDMS) modification strategy, sponges modified with LPDMS brushes not only shows significantly enhanced absorption speed, but also exhibits superior desorption dynamics towards viscous crude oils. The design strategy of slippery sponges with liquid‐like molecules may open a new avenue for developing advanced absorbents with simultaneously enhanced absorption and desorption performances for liquid separation and purification applications.