Preparation and properties of a silver particle-coated and 1-dodecanethiol-modified superhydrophobic melamine sponge for oil/water separation

A Ag particle-coated and 1-dodecanethiol-modified melamine sponge (Ag-DDT-MS) was prepared through surface roughness by coating silver particles and subsequent grafting of a hydrophobic long hydrocarbon chain. Superhydrophobic and 3D porous Ag-DDT-MS was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. The water contact angle of Ag-DDT-MS reached 159.2°. Ag-DDT-MS exhibited excellent absorption capacity for high viscous oils and organic solvents, ranging from 42.8 to 105.2 g·g −1 . The absorbed oils can be easily collected by the mechanical pressing process, and the oil recovery rate was satisfactory, more than 90% after 20 recycles. Ag-DDT-MS material also demonstrated good stability and excellent compression-recovery ability, keeping 88.6% of the initial height after ten compression-release cycles.