Title

Superhydrophobic and superoleophilic "sponge-like" aerogels for oil/water separation

Authors

Authors

Y. X. Yu; X. Y. Wu;J. Y. Fang

Comments

Authors: contact us about adding a copy of your work at STARS@ucf.edu

Abbreviated Journal Title

J. Mater. Sci.

Keywords

SILICA AEROGELS; PHYSICAL-PROPERTIES; OIL REMOVAL; WASTE-WATER; METHYLTRIMETHOXYSILANE; EFFICIENCY; Materials Science, Multidisciplinary

Abstract

We report a facile approach to synthesize superhydrophobic and superoleophilic "sponge-like" aerogels through sol-gel reaction followed by supercritical drying, in which MTES and DMDES are used as co-precursors, EtOH as a solvent, CTAB as a surfactant, and HCl and NH3 center dot H2O as catalysts. The MTES-DMDES-based aerogels formed at the optimal molar ratio of MTES: DMDES: EtOH: H2O: HCl: NH3 center dot H2O: CTAB at 1.1: 0.9: 6: 12: 2 x 10(-3): 2 x 10(-3): 0.14 with a low density of 0.0897 g/cm(3) show a compression ratio of 80 % under 36.85 kPa stress. They are superhydrophobic and superoleophilic with a water contact angle of 153.6A degrees and an oil contact angle of 0A degrees. We find that the MTES-DMDES-based aerogels show the high adsorption capacity for various kinds of organic liquids and the excellent recyclability in removing oil from water.

Journal Title

Journal of Materials Science

Volume

50

Issue/Number

15

Publication Date

1-1-2015

Document Type

Article

Language

English

First Page

5115

Last Page

5124

WOS Identifier

WOS:000354961400001

ISSN

0022-2461

Share

COinS