Fabricated of superhydrophobic silanized melamine sponge with photochromic properties for efficiency oil/water separation

Abstract

Superhydrophobic sponge as potential absorbing material for oil/water separation is attracting great attention recently. However, there are still some challenges to feasibly fabricate superhydrophobic sponge with large scale and low cost. Herein, a novel photochromic superhydrophobic melamine sponge (PDMS-SP sponge) is fabricated by facilely dip-coating and thermocuring of hydroxyl-terminated polydimethylsiloxanes mixed with photochromic spiropyran. FT-IR, EDS, and XPS results confirm the successful coating of PDMS-SP upon melamine sponge. The resultant sponge not only possesses excellent water repellency with a contact angle of 154.5° and oil-water separation efficiency with an oil absorption capacity of 48–116 folds of itself weight, but also shows photochromic phenomenon between colorless and purple when it is successively exposed to UV irradiation and visible light.