Publication Date: 2025
Progress in Organic Coatings (03009440)
The rapid development of chemical industries and oil spills during extraction and transportation have caused severe environmental pollution. Polyurethane foams “PUF” are widely used to remove oil from water due to their three-dimensional porous networks, which provide high absorption capacity. However, their effectiveness in oil/water separation applications, may decrease with repeated use as a result of structural and chemical degradation, and loss of hydrophobicity. In this research, to address this limitation and increase in their long-term stability and durability, fluorinated waterborne polyurethanes containing Fluorolink E10-H-modified nano-silica (WPU/Fl@SiO2) were synthesized and applied to coat PUFs by the dip-coating technique. This strategy offers several advantages, including low VOC emissions, a one-stage and scalable modification method, minimal material usage, and reduced time and energy consumption. The prepared nanostructures, WPU nanocomposites, and modified foams were analyzed by FTIR, XRD, TGA, DLS, FE-SEM, contact angle, and oil/solvents removal tests. The findings confirmed that the PUF/W10 sample, coated with WPU-Fl@SiO2 containing 10 wt% of nanostructures, in addition to the high surface roughness, has the highest contact angle (164.9°) and superior adsorption capacity for Xylene (42 g/g) and ethyl acetate (52 g/g). Moreover PUF/W10 sample showed an acceptable oil/water performance after 50 absorption cycles compared to unmodified and other modified foam samples The PUF/W10 sample performed well in different temperature ranges and corrosive environments, including acidic, alkaline, and strong salt solutions. Moreover, this foam displayed a continuous, efficient, and selective oil/water separation capability under a simple vacuum system. This research highlights the potential of PUFs coated with WPU-Fl@SiO2 aqueous dispersion as effective and durable materials for oil/solvent separation from water. © 2024 Elsevier B.V.
