Multifunctional and highly compressive cross-linker-free sponge based on reduced graphene oxide and boron nitride nanosheets

•3D cross-linker-free sponges were constructed via self-assembly of 2D GO and BN.•The sponges featured uniform porous network and excellent compressibility.•The sponges showed oil absorption capability of up to 170 times its own weight.•The absorbed oil could be removed by cost effective absorption-squeezing process.•The 3D rGO/BN sponges exhibited great promise for environmental remediation.

In this work, we report for the first time a simple approach to fabricate 3D reduced graphene oxide/boron nitride (rGO/BN) sponges with no additional chemical cross-linkers. Encouragingly, such sponge possesses higher compressibility and better recoverability in both air and organic solvents as compared to the bare rGO sponge. The as-prepared rGO/BN sponge also exhibits excellent water resistance and high oil absorption capability, achieving up to 170 times its own weight toward a wide range of environmental contaminants. Especially, the absorbed oil can be easily removed by the absorption-squeezing process which is cost effective and environmental friendly for oil collection. Most importantly, the underlying reasons for the remarkable mechanical properties, excellent oil absorption capabilities have been analysed and revealed in depth. These exceptional characteristics together with the ease of scalable synthesis make the as-prepared 3D rGO/BN sponge show many promising applications ranging from tissue engineering, sensors, catalysis, energy storage and conversion to environmental remediation.

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