Superhydrophobic polyurethane foams coated with Flurobutanol modified rGO nanosheets for effective continuous oil-water separation

The rapid development of chemical industries and oil spills during extraction and transportation cause severe environmental pollution. There are different methods to remove spilled oil from water. In this research, some superhydrophobic foams, have been prepared for oil/solvent separation from water with high absorption capacity. In this regard, initially fluorinated Waterborne polyurethane with hepta fluoro butanol modified reduced graphene oxide (WPU/ F-RGO) was synthesized and used to coat PUFs by Dip-coating technique. Synthesized foams were characterized by TGA, FE-SEM, EDS, and Oil removal tests. Connected by forming such nano -micro substrates in the PUFs coated WPU- F-RGO showed a WCA greater than 160 degrees. These foams, if used with a simple vacuum system, can act as a filter with selective separation capability for continuous and effective separation of oil from water. Modifying foams s with waterborne polyurethane improves the stability of oil absorption capacity in the final product, which is very important in increasing the durability of the foam in continuous separations