Open Access

ARTICLE

Characterization of Flame Retardancy and Oil-Water Separation Capacity of Superhydrophobic Silylated Melamine Sponges

Yongchun Liu^1,*, Ni Qiao², Yanli Yang³, Yanchun Li¹, Chunxiao He¹, Siyang Wang¹, Chengcheng Liu¹, Ruixia Lei¹, Wang Li⁴, Wenwen Gao⁴

1 College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, FLUOBON Pilot Base of Chemical Engineering, Longdong University, Qingyang, 745000, China
2 Qingyang Solid and Hazardous Waste Pollution Prevention and Control Management Center, Qingyang, 745000, China
3 Gansu Qingluyuan Environmental Monitoring Co., Ltd., Qingyang, 745000, China
4 School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shanxi Key Laboratory of Low Metamorphic Coal Clean Utilization, Yulin University, Yulin, 719000, China

* Corresponding Author: Yongchun Liu. Email:

Fluid Dynamics & Materials Processing 2024, 20(2), 383-400. https://doi.org/10.32604/fdmp.2023.041928

Received 11 May 2023; Accepted 24 July 2023; Issue published 14 December 2023

Abstract

A silylated melamine sponge (SMS) was prepared by two simple steps, namely, immersion and dehydration of a melamine sponge coated with methyltrichlorosilane. The silylated structure of SMS was characterized by FT-IR (Fourier-transform infrared) spectroscopy, SEM (Scanning electron microscopy) and in terms of water contact angles. Its oil-water absorption and separation capacities were measured by FT-IR and UV-visible spectrophotometry. The experimental results have shown that oligomeric silanol covalently bonds by Si−N onto the surface of melamine sponge skeletons. SMS has shown superhydrophobicity with a water contact angle exceeding 150° ± 1°, a better separation efficiency with regard to diesel oil (by 99.31% (wt/wt%) in oil-water mixture and even up to 99.99% (wt/wt%) for diesel oil in its saturated aqueous solution. Moreover, SMS inherited the intrinsic flame retardancy of the melamine sponge. In general, SMS has shown superhydrophobicity, high porosity, excellent selectivity, remarkable recyclability, and better absorption capacity for various oils and organic solvents, and a high separation efficiency for oil in saturated aqueous solutions.

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Keywords

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