Solution Processed Coating of Polyolefin on Melamine Foams to Fabricate Tough Oil Superabsorbents

Abstract Oil superabsorbent porous materials having rapid oil/water separation, high oil absorption capacity, good mechanical strength, superior recyclability, low costs, and manufacture scalability are still highly desired for oil spill cleanup applications. In this work, commercially available melamine foams are modified through dip‐coating by polyolefin/toluene solution. All characterizations confirm that polyolefin is successfully coated on surfaces of the melamine foam skeleton, giving a micro‐nano scale hierarchical architecture. The modified foams absorb oil and repel water with a water contact angle higher than 130°. The absorption capacities of the modified foams for various oil and solvents are in the range of 42.6–116.5 g g −1 . The retention of sorption capacity remains above 95% after 100 cycles of sorption–squeezing. Mechanical testing reveals that the compressive‐recovery property is kept and the tensile strains at break of the modified foams are improved compared to their original counterparts. This method is facile, inexpensive, and can be easily scaled‐up.