Polymer waste surgical masks decorated by superhydrophobic metal-organic frameworks towards oil spills clean-up

The pandemic of COVID-19 led to drastic increase in the production of polymer medical disposals, where surgical masks and hospital sheets, made from polypropylene (PP), bring large carbon footprints after burning as a dominant recycling scenario. Here, we offer an alternative strategy of functional recycling for medical disposals to prolong the life cycle of waste PP to oil spill sorbent. Simple deposition of the superhydrophobic fluorine-free metal-azolate framework (MAF-6) leads to the preparation of advanced materials PP-MAF6 for oil spill clean-up. Optimized procedures allow obtaining superhydrophobic oleophilic fabric with mechanical robustness and UV resistance. The prepared PP-MAF6 shows high adsorption capacity towards a wide range of oils in 4–10 pH range, including straight-run diesel fuel (> 25000 mg/g) with the > 99.9% oil removal efficiency. To complement adsorption performance, we scaled up the preparation procedure of PP-MAF6 to 65 cm2. Finally, enlarged samples were capable to fully clean up the simulated sample containing solid contaminants (total organic carbon content 2500%) and solid contaminant of the > 99.9% oil removal efficiency. These findings highlight the robust potential of functional recycling for future applications environmental safety. [Display omitted] •face masks were recycled to oil sorbent via a functional recycling strategy.•superhydrophobic fluorine-free MAF-6 was deposited on polypropylene (PP) fabric.•PP-MAF6 is a superhydrophobic fabric with improved thermal, mechanical stability, UV resistance.•PP-MAF6 showed high adsorption capacity for diesel for multiple utilization.•Developed experimental procedure was up-scaled for removal oil spills in close-to-real conditions.