Facile and green fabrication of superhydrophobic sponge for continuous oil/water separation from harsh environments

Facile, green and scalable method for preparation superwetting materials to continuous oil/water separation in harsh environments are still urgently in demand. Here, a superhydrophobic melamine sponge (MS@PDA@SiO₂) was obtained via a facile, green bioinspired glue-assisted and sol-gel strategy continuous oil/water separation in harsh environments. The obtained MS@PDA@SiO₂ exhibits excellent adsorption capacity (52–107 g/g), and good recyclability (up to 80 times). Additionally, the absorbed oils can be reclaimed via facile squeezing due to the excellent compressibility and flexibility of MS@PDA@SiO₂. The MS@PDA@SiO₂ also showed excellent compressibility, abrasion resistance and harsh environment resistance (highly acidic, alkaline and salty environments, low and high temperature). Moreover, the MS@PDA@SiO₂ is capable of rapid, efficient and continuous oil collection from salty water surface. The facile, green preparation, resistance to harsh environments make MS@PDA@SiO₂ hold great promising in cleanup oil spills in real environments.