Fabricated multifunctional sponge with smart pH-responsive and photocatalytic activity for highly efficient oil–water separation and organic pollutants removal
摘要
Developing smart multifunctional materials has broad application prospects in highly efficient purification of oily wastewater. In this work, an innovative and convenient strategy is developed to fabricate a smart multifunctional sponge with excellent switchable wettability and pollutants degradation property through in situ growth of bismuth oxybromide (BiOBr) on the melamine sponge (MS) skeleton and then covalent grafting of pH-responsive dodecanedioic acid (Da) and hydrophobic myristic acid (Ma). The synthetic Da-Ma/BiOBr@MS sponge demonstrates rapidly switchable wettability and can be utilized to accomplish the on-demand separation of different oil–water mixtures with high efficiency. Meanwhile, under 60 min irradiation, the smart multifunctional sponge also exhibits brilliant photocatalytic ability and can degrade the organic pollutants (such as Rhodamine B and rhodamine 6G) with a degradation efficiency of more than 90%. Notably, the Da-Ma/BiOBr@MS displays exceptional oil–water separation efficiency (97% after 30 cycles) and oil absorption capacity (8114 wt% for carbon tetrachloride), allowing it to successfully separate stabilized oil-in-water emulsions. Thus, the smart multifunctional sponge has the potential for application in oily wastewater remediation.
Graphical Abstract