Bioinspired multifunctional foam with self-cleaning and oil/water separation

Oil/water separation is a worldwide challenge. Learning from nature provides a promising approach for the construction of functional materials with oil/water separation. In this contribution, inspired by superhydrophobic self-cleaning lotus leaves and porous biomaterials, a facile method is proposed to fabricate polyurethane foam with simultaneous superhydrophobicity and superoleophilicity. Due to its low density, light weight, and superhydrophobicity, the as-prepared foam can float easily on water. Furthermore, the foam demonstrates super-repellency towards corrosive liquids, self-cleaning, and oil/water separation properties, possessing multifunction integration. We expect that this low-cost process can be readily and widely adopted for the design of multifunctional foams for large-area oil-spill cleanup.