Superhydrophobic/Superoleophilic Polycarbonate/Carbon Nanotubes Porous Monolith for Selective Oil Adsorption from Water

Abstract

A superhydrophobic/superoleophilic porous polycarbonate/carboxyl-functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (PC/cMWCNTs) monolith with novel hierarchical micronanostructure was facilely fabricated via a thermally impacted nonsolvent induced phase separation method. A novel porous microstructure endowed PC/cMWCNTs monolith had a high porosity of 90.1%. Based on excellent superhydrophobicity (water contact angle of 159°) and superoleophilicity (oil contact angle of 0°), this porous monolith could selectively adsorb various types of oils/organic solvents from the oil–water mixture. Additionally, the monolith exhibited outstanding oil/water separation performance including fast adsorption speed, high saturation capacity, and superior recycling ability. The equilibrium adsorption time and saturated adsorption capacity of soybean oil were 20 s and 12.62 g g–1, respectively. By simple centrifugation or evaporation, the recovered PC/cMWCNTs monolith could be reused for at least 10 cycles. Thus, porous PC/cMWCNTs monolith is a promising candidate for oil-polluted water treatment.