College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Biomedical Multidisciplinary Innovation Research Institute, Shanghai East Hospital, Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Key Laboratory of Yangtze River Water Environment, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai, 200092, China.
College of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University of Electric Power, Shanghai, 200090, China.
Chemosphere. 2020 Jun;249:126141. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.126141. Epub 2020 Feb 7.
Crude oil pollution can cause severe and long-term ecological damage and oil cleanup has become a worldwide challenge. Conventional treatment strategies like in-situ burning, manual skimmer and bioremediation were labor-intensive and time-consuming. The high viscosity of crude oil also posed difficulty for traditional absorbents. Herein, to address these limitations, we designed and fabricated a floating absorbent that was comprised of reduced graphene oxide (RGO), melamine sponge (MS), and a 3D-printed mounting platform. Through a facile one-pot hydrothermal method, graphene oxide (GO) was simultaneously reduced to RGO and loaded in MS (RGO-MS). The resulted RGO-MS composites possess desirable hydrophobicity/oleophilicity for oil absorption with a water contact angle of 122°. The effective light-to-heat conversion allowed the RGO-MS composite to absorb approximately 95 times its own weight of crude oil within 12 min under light irradiation. A 3D-printed mounting platform for RGO-MS composites was further fabricated to improve its applicability and allow easy retrieval. Taking advantages of the RGO's hydrophobicity/oleophilicity and photothermal property, the floating ability of MS, this study demonstrated the real-life applicability of RGO-MS composites for in-situ crude oil cleanup.
原油污染会造成严重且长期的生态破坏，而清理油污已成为全球范围内的一项挑战。传统的处理策略，如原位燃烧、人工撇油器和生物修复等，都需要大量的人力和时间。此外，原油的高粘度也给传统的吸附剂带来了困难。为此，我们设计并制造了一种由还原氧化石墨烯（RGO）、三聚氰胺海绵（MS）和 3D 打印安装平台组成的漂浮式吸油材料。通过简便的一步水热法，GO 同时被还原为 RGO 并负载在 MS 上（RGO-MS）。所得的 RGO-MS 复合材料具有理想的疏水性/亲油性，用于吸油，其水接触角为 122°。有效的光热转换使 RGO-MS 复合材料在光照下 12 分钟内可吸收约 95 倍自身重量的原油。进一步制造了用于 RGO-MS 复合材料的 3D 打印安装平台，以提高其适用性并方便回收。利用 RGO 的疏水性/亲油性和光热特性，以及 MS 的漂浮能力，本研究证明了 RGO-MS 复合材料在现场原油清理方面的实际应用。
