Nanofibrous polystyrene membranes prepared through solution blow spinning with an airbrush and the facile application in oil recovery

Polystyrene (PS) dissolved in dichloromethane was spun to prepare the nanofibrous polystyrene membranes (NPS) through solution blow spinning with a commercialized airbrush. The influences of spinning conditions on the membrane morphology, density, and porosity were investigated. Through varying the PS concentration (8%, 9%, 10%), gas pressure (0.1, 0.2, 0.3 MPa), and acceptance distance (10, 12, 15, 18 cm), NPS with diameters of 200–1400 nm were prepared. The membranes had high porosity of 83.9%, and super-hydrophobic and super-oleophilic surface. The oil absorbency to motor oil, peanut oil, diesel oil, and heavy oil was 29.35, 27.27, 21.81, and 22.80 g/g, respectively, while that of the commercialized nonwoven polypropylene was 9.34, 9.17, 7.09, and 7.79 g/g, respectively. NPS could separate oil from water surface in several seconds. It was easy to prepare the membrane in situ on the surface of an oil/water mixture and remove the oil while peeling off the membrane, indicating NPS is potential as oil recovery material in large-area oil pollution environment.