Context: Recently, Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati, have developed a new class of super-hydrophobic cotton composite with Metal-Organic Framework (MOF) that promise marine oil-spill clean-up in near future.
About super-hydrophobic cotton composite material

• It is a novel, highly porous and water-repellent super-hydrophobic cotton composite material containing MOF.
• The new MOF material is developed on the surface of medical cotton.
• The medical cotton changes from hydrophilic to super-hydrophobic material and can float on the water surface.
• It showed water repellence with a water contact angle of 163°.
• It showed an oil absorption capacity of more than 2500 wt per cent.
• It has great capability for selective separation of the oils from oil/water mixtures.
• The separation efficiency lies between 95 per cent and 98 per cent.
• It is able to absorb large volumes of oils and can be reused for a minimum of 10 times.
• It is easy to prepare, cost-effective and recyclable.

Applications

• Cleaning the spilled oil from environmental water (river, sea or ocean water) during oil transportation with high efficiency and large absorption capacity.
• Both heavy and light oils can be effectively absorbed by the material.
• It can absorb oil selectively from an oil-water mixture.
• Motor oil, kerosene and gasoline were used to investigate the real-life potential of the material for oil-spill clean-up.
• It can separate oil from oil/water mixture by simple gravity-directed filtration and a collection of underwater oil against gravity.

What are MOFs?

• Metal-Organic Framework (MOFs) are a class of compounds containing metal ions coordinated to organic ligands to form 3D structures, with the special feature that they are often highly porous materials that act like a sponge.