Highly efficient and recyclable carbon soot sponge for oil cleanup

Carbon soot (CS) has the advantages of cost-effectiveness and production scalability over other carbons (i.e., graphene, CNTs) in their synthesis. However, little research has been conducted to explore the potential applications of CS. In this study, we demonstrated that a common daily waste-CS-can be used for developing a cost-effective absorbent (CS-sponge) to remove oil contaminants from water. The CS was synthesized by an ethylene-oxygen combustion flame. The CS-sponge was prepared via a dip-coating method. Without further surface modification and pretreatments, the CS-sponge demonstrates high absorption capacities (up to 80 times its own weight) for a broad spectrum of oils and organic solvents with a recyclability of more than 10 times. These research results show evidence that the CS-sponge is promising in environmental remediation for large-scale, low-cost removal of oils from water.