Journal of Colloid and Interface Science: new superhydrophobic graphene foam material for oil water separation

Graphene, a new type of two-dimensional carbon material, is the basic unit of other graphite materials, especially the three-dimensional structure material which is composed of the basic unit It has the characteristics of rich channels, high specific surface area and hydrophobic and lipophilic, which makes it have the basic characteristics as an adsorbent for oil-water separation At the same time, it has stable and interconnected channel structure and high surface chemical activity It is beneficial to improve the recycling of the material in the process of oil-water separation, so 3D graphene gradually appears in the scientific research field as a new oil-water separation material The surface wetting characteristics of oil-water separation materials directly affect the selectivity of oil-water separation materials to water and oil Because of the large amount of oxygen functional groups on the surface of graphene oxide prepared by the preparation of graphene foam, the hydrophobicity of the graphene oxide can be improved at a certain degree through chemical treatment, but it has no superhydrophobic characteristics (the contact angle of water is greater than 150 degrees) The oil-water selectivity of the material is lost Recently, researchers of the composite material research team of the environmental science and Technology Research Institute of the China Academy of Sciences (Xinjiang) have designed a super hydrophobic graphene foam material by adjusting the material surface roughness and surface energy The researchers used graphene oxide to form a good mold and adopt the technology of filtration Firstly, the graphene oxide film was first prepared By using the foaming technology, the graphene foam with some functional groups on the surface was prepared by controlling the reaction time Then the nanoparticles of silica were uniformly loaded on the surface, and oil and water with super hydrophobic properties were prepared through the modification of silane Separation of graphene foam material, water contact angle of 153 degrees, improve the selectivity of oil and water, while maintaining the three-dimensional structure of graphene foam, oil and organic solvents have good adsorption properties In addition, during the preparation process, researchers controlled the thickness of superhydrophobic graphene foam by adjusting the amount of graphene oxide, and the material could eventually be used as an oil / water separation membrane Because of the good hydrophobic property of the material, the separation efficiency of the material has been significantly improved in the process of oil-water separation Therefore, the material can be used as an adsorbent material, and can also be used as a filter membrane material to further widen the scope of application of graphene foam materials Paper link: http://