Sunlight Self-Heating Oil-Water Separation Material and Device for Recovering High-Viscosity Oil

Abstract

This research employed a simplistic approach to modify polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and graphene oxide (GO) onto the surface of the PU skeleton, and then synthesize an oil–water separation material (rGO@PDMS/PU) with photothermal conversion performance and superoleophilic/superhydrophobic properties through high-temperature reduction. The synthesized rGO@PDMS/PU can adsorb organic solvents or oil that are 19–37 times its own weight, while also having a 99.1% oil–water separation efficiency. Additionally, rGO@PDMS/PU also has good photothermal conversion ability. Under the intensity of 1 sunlight (q = 1 kW m⁻²), its surface temperature can reach 95.4°C within 10 s. Relying on the excellent oil–water selectivity and photothermal conversion capabilities of rGO@PDMS/PU, we also build a novel oil-gathering device that can successfully make oil recovery on the water surface in situ. When the device is under light conditions, its crude oil recovery efficiency is nearly four times higher than when there is no light. Therefore, this new oil-gathering device has broad application prospects in high-viscosity oil leakage incidents such as crude oil and engine oil.