Recyclable carbon nanotube sponges for oil absorption

✍ Scribed by Xuchun Gui; Hongbian Li; Kunlin Wang; Jinquan Wei; Yi Jia; Zhen Li; Lili Fan; Anyuan Cao; Hongwei Zhu; Dehai Wu

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2011
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 505 KB
• Volume: 59
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1359-6454
• DOI: 10.1016/j.actamat.2011.04.022

✦ Synopsis

The recyclability of carbon nanotube (CNT) sponges in terms of oil absorption was studied. The sorption capacities of these sponges are greater than 100 g g -1 for many organics and oils with viscosities of 3-200 cP, and they maintain sorption capacities of 20-40 g g -1 after 10 cycles of absorption. About 98% of absorbed oil can be recovered by squeezing or converted to heat by directly burning the oil within the sponges. The sorption process has been described by a second-order kinetic model. The results demonstrate that CNT sponges are promising oil sorbents with good recyclability.