High efficiency dye adsorption and oil–water separation of aminated-SiO2 decorated monolayer Ti3C2Tx MXene

The rapid growth of industries and population has led to severe water pollution, especially from the oil and dyes pollution. Recently, MXene with hydrophilicity layer structure and excellent adsorption capacity has been regarded as a promising material for high efficiency dye adsorption and oil–water separation. In this study, aminated-SiO 2 nanorods and monolayer Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene were combined by a facile self-assembly method to prepare a new composite (NS x /MXene) for dye adsorption and oil–water separation. The results show that the adsorption capacity of the NS x /MXene composite was enhanced due to the introduction of aminated-SiO 2 nanorods with more active sites. Especially, the NS 2 /MXene composite has a maximum adsorption capacity up to 4532.5 mg g −1 for AB74 dye, which is attributed to the electrostatic interaction between NS 2 /MXene and AB74 dye molecules. In addition, NS 2 /MXene modified polyurethane sponge (NS 2 /MXene@PU) was prepared by immersing dried polyurethane (PU) sponge in the NS 2 /MXene suspension. The NS 2 /MXene@PU sponge has a characteristic of superhydrophilicity in air and superoleophobicity in water, and shows a high separation flux of 27.44 × 10 4 L m −2 h −1 for a cyclohexane-water mixture. After 30 cycle experiments, the separation flux of NS 2 /MXene@PU for the cyclohexane-water mixture can still be 21.66 × 10 4 L m −2 h −1 , indicating an excellent cycling stability of NS 2 /MXene@PU. Hence, this new NS 2 /MXene material has excellent application prospects in dye adsorption and oil–water separation.