Thermally stable and superhydrophobic foam prepared by high-internal phase emulsion for oil/water separation with good recycling capacity

Superhydrophobic polymeric foams, with good thermal stability and high-recycling capacity to remove oil from oily wastewater, are highly desirable for current oily wastewater purification. Herein, poly (styrene-acrylic acid 2,2,3,4,4,4-hexafluoro-butyl ester-divinylbenzene) foam with porosity as high as 99.27% has been prepared through high-internal phase emulsions. Therein, poly (cyclotriphosphazene-co-4,4′-sulfonyldiphenol) microspheres, and Span80 act as co-emulsifier to stabilize the emulsion system. The as-prepared foams exhibited super hydrophobicity with a water contact angle of 150.3° and thermal stability. Additionally, the oil adsorption capacity of the porous material could reach up to 25.6–53.4 times its mass with accessible and high-recycling capacity. These aforementioned outstanding properties make our superhydrophobic foam hold potential applications in oil/water separation.