Hydrophobically modified nano-SiO₂ in situ loaded on polyurethane foam as a potential carrier for marine oil spill

In order to enhance the oil-water separation properties of polyurethane foam (PFU), hydrophobic silica nanoparticles (H-SiO2 NPs) were firstly prepared by incorporating long alkyl chains into silica nanoparticles, and then, it was combined with PFU by in situ loading to fabricate a hydrophobic PFU (H-SiO2 NPs/PUF). When the loading amount of H-SiO2 NPs was 10%, the water contact angle of the modified foam H-SiO2 NPs/PUF-10 reached 147 +/- 1 degrees, which proved it was highly hydrophobic. The elongation at break of the foam was increased by 202%, which indicated that it had better resilience and recyclability. In addition, the total pore area and porosity were increased to 16.24 m(2)/g and 88.43% from 5.46 m(2)/g and 2.11%, which provided more storage space for adsorption. The oil-water separation experiment showed that the adsorption capacity for most light oils was 11-13 g/g, and that for dichloromethane was as high as 40.5 g/g. After 10 adsorption-desorption cycles, the adsorption capacity only decreased from 15.6 to 14.5 g/g, which was still 93% of the initial adsorption capacity. H-SiO2 NPs/PUF represents good adsorption capacity, recyclability, and recyclability, so it as a carrier has a potential application in the treatment of marine oil spills.