Facile fabrication of superhydrophobic sand: Potential advantages for practical application in oil–water separation

• The fabrication process is easy and cost-effective.
• The time required for oil–water separation was shortened significantly.
• The high efficiency was retained after several cycles of oil–water separation process.

Development of cost-effective and handy functional materials that can separate oil from water readily by a convenient method is highly desirable and still challenge. Herein, sand-based superhydrophobic surfaces were easily achieved by coating sand particles with silane, and the whole fabrication process was time-saving and facile to carry out. The superhydrophobic surfaces can be applied as an oil sorbent scaffold to absorb oil from water selectively because of their water-repelling and oil-attracting properties. In addition, the time required for oil–water separation was shortened significantly by combining the separation process with a vacuum system. Importantly, the superhydrophobic surfaces can maintain their high selectivity and separation efficiency even after several cycles of oil–water separation, thus providing great potential and advantage for practical application in oil–water separation.

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