MIL-101(Fe) Networks Supported on Fluorinated Graphene Nanosheets as Coatings for Oil Sorption

Oil spill leakage and industrial oily wastewater discharge into water bodies cause a considerable threat to the marine network and human health. Selective oil/organic solvent collection devices with effectual recovery of the oils from the water surface have been studied through engineering advanced materials displaying a special wetting property. Herein, we develop a water-repellent MIL-101(Fe) material supported over fluorinated graphene (FG) nanosheets by in situ synthesis under ambient conditions. FG nanosheets not only provide the necessary structural nodes for the growth of octahedral MIL-101(Fe) nanostructures but also bring in the necessary hydrophobicity with a water contact angle of 146 ± 1°, possessing a surface free energy of 12.7 mJ m–2. Powdered FG-MIL-101(Fe) demonstrated differential wettability with extreme chemical stabilities toward acidic and basic water. The solution processability of FG-MIL-101(Fe) was amalgamated with a copper mesh and a polydimethylsiloxane sponge via spray coating and inoculation methods en route designing oil recovery prototypes. The submersible FG-MIL-101(Fe)-PDMS sponges displayed selective pickup of oil and organic solvents with the sorption ranging from 1.85 to 3.8 g/g, in addition to displaying recyclability up to 10 cycles along with physical and chemical robustness. Additionally, the FG-MIL-101(Fe)-PDMS macroporous sponge was subjected to demulsification of a toluene/water system taking the distinct toluene pickup property. Selective oil recovery containers were fabricated by directing FG-MIL-101(Fe) suspensions on a copper mesh resulting in oil-collecting devices. Organics/oils selectively infiltrated into the FG-MIL-101(Fe)-coated copper mesh superwetting containers with separation efficiencies in the range of 96–100%. The translation of FG-MIL-101(Fe)-modified substrates was utilized to tackle real-time oil/organic collection prototypes from oil–seawater mixtures under turbulent conditions demonstrating excellent sorption abilities ranging from 4.4 to 5.6 g/g (by superwetting sponges) along with super efficiencies in the range of 92–98% (via superwetting containers).