•A magnetic fibrous sorbent was designed by electrospinning.•The sorbent had good magnetic response and special wettability.•The magnetic fibrous sorbent showed good remote oil adsorption capacity.Oil spill accident and oily water have potential risks to environment and human health, thus need to be imperatively treated. Herein, a magnetic fibrous sorbent was designed via electrospinning of suspension containing polymer and magnetic nanoparticles in one step for remote and efficient oil adsorption. The morphology of the magnetic fibrous sorbent was characterized by scanning electron microscopy. The magnetic property and the wetting behavior were measured by vibrating sample magnetometer and contact angle system, respectively. The results showed that the morphology of the fibers was homogeneous and the magnetic nanoparticles were well dispersed within the fibers. It was also found that this composite sorbent had good magnetic response, special wettability, and remote oil adsorption capacity. We believed this novel polymer/Fe3O4 fibrous sorbent could be used as a promising material for the remote oil/water separation.Download high-res image (87KB)Download full-size image

Both the wettability and pore size of filtration materials are of great importance in oil/water separation. However, conventional strategies have mainly focused on the fabrication of filtration materials with special wettability, regardless of the pore size. Herein, we demonstrated the design and construction of special wettable nanofibrous mats with tunable pore sizes as filtration materials for selective and efficient separation of oil from oil/water mixtures. The nanofibrous mats with different pore sizes were prepared by the electrospinning approach using a stainless steel wire mesh as the collector, and the results indicated that the pore size of the nanofibrous mats gradually increased with the decrease in the mesh number. The results of the wettability behavior demonstrated that all of the nanofibrous mats showed highly hydrophobic and superoleophilic properties. Owing to the special wettability and the porous structure, the nanofibrous mats were sequentially applied for oil/water separation, and they showed excellent ability to separate both layered oil/water mixture and water-in-oil emulsion; moreover, it was also found that the oil flux could be highly improved by controlling the pore size of the nanofibrous mat and that the oil flux of the nanofibrous mat with the largest pore size was about 10 times higher than that of the conventional nonwoven mat that had the smallest pore size. The nanofibrous mats developed with controllable pore sizes can therefore be practically used as highly efficient filtration materials in the management of oily water.

•A single step method was employed to fabricate SMWM for oil/water separation.•The whole fabrication process only required 2min.•A sorbent fabricated by covering SMWM on the sponge was proposed to adsorb oil.Superhydrophobic metal wire mesh (SMWM) has frequently been applied for the selective and efficient separation of oil/water mixture due to its porous structure and special wettability. However, current methods for the modification of metal wire mesh to be superhydrophobic suffered from problems with respect to complex experimental procedures or time-consuming process. In this study, a very simple, time-saving and single-step electrospray method was proposed to fabricate SMWM and the whole procedure required about only 2 min. The morphology, surface composition and wettability of the SMWM were all evaluated, and the oil/water separation ability was further investigated. In addition, a commercial available sponge covered with SMWM was fabricated as an oil adsorbent for the purpose of oil recovery. This study demonstrated a convenient and fast method to modify the metal wire mesh to be superhydrophobic and such simple method might find practical applications in the large-scale removal of oils.Download high-res image (103KB)Download full-size image