Polymer waste surgical masks decorated by superhydrophobic metal-organic frameworks towards oil spills clean-up

The pandemic of COVID-19 led to drastic increase in the production of polymer medical disposals, where surgical masks and hospital sheets, made from polypropylene (PP), bring large carbon footprints after burning as a dominant recycling scenario. Here, we offer an alternative strategy of functional recycling for medical disposals to prolong the life cycle of waste PP to oil spill sorbent. Simple deposition of the superhydrophobic fluorine-free metal-azolate framework (MAF-6) leads to the preparation of advanced materials PP-MAF6 for oil spill clean-up. Optimized procedures allow obtaining superhydrophobic oleophilic fabric with mechanical robustness and UV resistance. The prepared PP-MAF6 shows high adsorption capacity towards a wide range of oils in 4-10 pH range, including straight-run diesel fuel (> 25000 mg/g) with the > 99.9% oil removal efficiency. To complement adsorption performance, we scaled up the preparation procedure of PP-MAF6 to 65 cm(2). Finally, enlarged samples were capable to fully clean up the simulated sample containing solid contaminants (total organic carbon content <0.0018 g/L; Zn, Fe concentration < 0.3 mg/L). The PP-MAF6 shows great potential in accident elimination of oil spills containing solid components in the contaminated water in a fast manner. The strategy of functional polymer recycling is promising for treating practical oil spills.