LAUSR

AbstractThe superhydrophobic sponges were fabricated through dip-coating candle soot (CS) and SiO2 nanoparticles on polyurethane (PU) sponges. The as-prepared sponges exhibited high absorption capacity for oils and organic solvents and the separation efficiencies of oil/water mixtures were all higher than 99.00%. In addition, the CS-SiO2-PU sponge with robust superhydrophobicity could selectively absorb oil from corrosive solutions, hot water (92 ± 2 °C), and ice/water mixtures at magnetic stirring. Furthermore, the as-prepared sponge connected with a vacuum system could remove oil from water continuously. Therefore, the CS-SiO2-PU sponge as a promising candidate can realize oil/water separation in harsh conditions.Graphical AbstractThe CS-SiO2-PU sponges with robust superhydrophobicity toward harsh conditions could absorb oils from water quickly in a vacuum system.