Fabrication of Melamine Sponge Sorbent Materials Through High‐Efficiency Microwave Impregnation for Oil–Water/Oil‐Vapor Separation

Abstract Oil spills consistently threaten the environment and ecosystems, highlighting the urgent need to develop efficient and cost‐effective remediation technologies. Highly hydrophobic melamine sponges (HHMS), with a water contact angle (WCA) of 146.3°, are successfully synthesized via high‐efficiency microwave impregnation under conditions of extremely low acid concentration (0.05 m ) and an exceptionally short reaction time (4 min). The results showed that HHMS‐0.05‐4 exhibited excellent absorption ability for various organic solvents (such as hexane, toluene, and chloroform) and vegetable oils (such as rapeseed oil and peanut oil), with a maximum absorption capacity of 71–149 times its weight. Additionally, the material demonstrated outstanding recyclability, maintaining over 95% of its initial saturated absorption capacity after 15 absorption–desorption cycles. Regarding oil‐water separation, HHMS‐0.05‐4 showed high oil‐water selectivity, reaching a static oil‐water selective absorption efficiency of up to 95.9%. Remarkably, the material also provided exceptional interception performance for oil and gas, with an interception efficiency exceeding 99.5% within 24 h and staying above 98% during a 144‐h long‐term test. Compared to other reported materials, the microwave impregnation process is environmentally friendly. HHMS‐0.05‐4 offers comparable adsorption and oil–water separation performance, while its preparation cost is very low, and it also possesses excellent oil‐gas separation capabilities.