Superhydrophobic P (St-DVB) foam prepared by the high internal phase emulsion technique for oil spill recovery

Poly (styrene-divinylbenzene) (P (St-DVB)) foams with porosity as high as 98% were prepared by the method of high internal phase emulsions (HIPEs) in one-step process. The materials exhibited superhydrophobicity and excellent oleophilicity, with the water contact angle (WCA) even exceeding 150° and oil contact angle approaching 0°. The materials fabricated with different types of Fe 3 O 4 particles had varied hierarchical pore structures. And the adsorption capacity of the monolithic foam towards chloroform was as high as 57   g/g. Importantly, the materials soaked with oil could be regenerated effectively by means of centrifugation with oil recovery rate reaching 90%. More importantly, the monolithic PolyHIPEs (polymers obtained by the polymerization of the HIPEs) were subjected to 20 adsorption-centrifugation cycles and superior reusability was demonstrated. These features achieved with PolyHIPEs made them ideal candidates for practical oil removal applications.