Simple synthesis of smart magnetically driven fibrous films for remote controllable oil removal

Inspired by the marine mussel adhesive protein, smart, magnetically controllable, oil adsorption nanofibrous materials were successfully fabricated in this research. Taking advantage of the properties of dopamine whose molecular structure mimics the single unit of the marine mussel adhesive protein and can be polymerized in alkaline solution forming a “glue” layer on many kinds of material surfaces, magnetic iron(II, III) oxide (Fe3O4) nanoparticles were easily and robustly anchored on to electrospun poly(vinylidene fluoride) fibrous films. After fluorination, the as-prepared hierarchical structured films exhibited superhydrophobicity, superoleophilicity and an excellent oil adsorption capacity from water. Importantly, because of the magnetically controllable property endowed by the Fe3O4 nanoparticles, such fibrous films act as a “smart magnetically controlled oil removal carrier”, which effectively overcome the drawbacks of other in situ oil adsorbant materials and can also be easily recovered. This work provides a simple strategy to fabricate magnetic responsive intelligent oil removal materials, which will find broad applications in complex environment oil-water separation.