Preparation of temperature-responsive smart sponge and its application in oil-water separation and dye adsorption

At present, researchers are committed to studying new intelligent response materials to deal with severe water pollution problems. Using PU sponge as the substrate, dopamine was first modified to construct a rough surface while introducing active groups. The monomer N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM) and itaconic acid (IA) were grafted and polymerized onto the polydopamine coating on the sponge surface by vinyltrimethoxysilane (VTMS). The obtained DINA-PU sponge has good temperature response and switchable wettability characteristics, and has good adsorption-desorption cycle function. Moreover, a micro-filtration device was designed to separate heavy (light) oil-water mixtures. The separation efficiency can reach more than 95 % and 99 % for heavy and light oil-water, respectively. In addition, the adsorption capacity of the material for methylene blue (MB) can reach 660 mg·g −1 . The separation efficiency in the oil-water separation-dye adsorption integrated separation experiment can reach more than 99 %.