Rapid fabrication of superhydrophobic magnetic melt-blown fiber felt for oil spill recovery and efficient oil–water separation

[Display omitted] •Polypropylene (PP) fiber felts were produced on a large scale by melt-blown technology.•UV irradiation-induced dopamine polymerization for accelerated mussel-inspired surface modification.•The magnetism imparts remote controllability of the fiber felt.•Multi-size micromorphology thrilling superior oil absorption capacity.•Serving as oil trap to recover spilled oil and separate the oil/water mixture. In response to the defects of low oil adsorption capacity and poor oil–water selectivity of polypropylene fiber felt as an oil spill emergency material, which necessitates systematic improvement to cope with frequent oil spills. Herein, a superhydrophobic magnetic fiber felt is fabricated by a facile melt-blown technique and a rapid modification process to solve its defects while imparting its functionality. UV-induced rapid polymerization of dopamine on melt-blown fibers and a dip coating of hydrophobic candelilla wax to modify mussel-inspired oil-adsorbent felts. The resultant felt features remote controllability as well as thermal and mechanical stability, exhibiting high resistance to corrosive solutions. The adsorption efficiency of the modified felt is significantly enhanced with a capacity of 10–20.48 g/g, and notably, it can be recycled 15 times via manual adsorption–desorption, which greatly contributes to the usefulness of the adsorbent. In addition, the separation efficiency of the felt applied as a membrane exceeds 95.7 % for various oil–water mixtures by gravity alone and a permeate flux of up to 28,662 L·m−2·h−1. A pump-assisted experiment connected to a felt can collect oil at a flux of 20,845 L·m−2·h−1, aiming at the continuous recovery of oil spills from seawater. The significant advancement in oil-adsorbent felt provides engineers with a more realistic strategy to handle oil spills and challenging separations.