New environmental cleanup technology rids oil from water

The material is shown to be superhydrophobic and

superoleophilic, meaning it rejects water while absorbing oils. It is made using melamine sponges, an ultra-low-weight, porous material found in various products including household cleaning pads and insulation materials. The researchers modified the melamine sponge by dipping it into a solution containing a small amount of silicone rubber called PDMS and the solvent hexane, resulting in an extremely thin coating that repels water while allowing oil to be absorbed into the sponge.

"The reason we're excited about this is that it is manufactured using a very inexpensive one-step process to coat the melamine sponges, and the material can be reused many times," said Suresh V. Garimella, Purdue University's executive vice president for research and partnerships and the Goodson Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering. "We believe this can be readily adopted for the cleanup of oil spills and

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2016-04-environmental-cleanup-technology-oil.html#jCp