The spills of crude oil and other organic chemicals are common around the world, resulting in severe damage to the environment and ecosystem. Therefore, developing low-cost and eco-friendly absorption material is in urgent need. In this study, we report a superhydrophobic and oleophilic porous material using biomass cuttlebone as the scaffold. A layer of polydopamine is grafted on the cuttlebone as the adhesion layer between the cuttlebone and the superhydrophobic coating. The in situ grown silica micro/nanoparticles on top of the adhesion layer provide the anchoring spots for grafting the fluorinated hydrocarbon and a rough topography for realizing superhydrophobicity. The static water contact angle of the superhydrophobic cuttlebone reaches 152°, and its oil contact angle is ~0°. The excellent oil-water separation efficiency of the prepared superhydrophobic cuttlebone is demonstrated using high-density oil/water mixtures and low-density oil/water mixtures.
Keywords: biomass; cuttlebone; oil spill remediation; seafood byproduct; superhydrophobicity.