Large-scale fabrication of multifunction polyolefin microfibrous fabrics with elasticity and amphiphilicity for efficient oil–water separation

[Display omitted] •Developed POE/PP@SAS microfibrous fabrics via a melt-blowing process for oil–water separation.•Achieved superhydrophilicity with an oil contact angle of 27.3°.•Enhanced oil–water separation flux reaching 8571.4 L/(m2·h) with 70 % POE content.•Demonstrated robust compressive elasticity and excellent oil adsorption capacity.•Maintained stable performance and reusability after multiple compression cycles. Microfibrous fabrics with attractive fluffy porous structures have recently attracted considerable attention for the treatment of oil pollution. However, achieving high performance in oil–water separation processes remains a significant challenge for elastic porous microfibrous fabrics. In this study, a simple strategy for the large-scale preparation of polyolefin microfibrous fabrics with the dual functions of high elasticity and amphiphilicity is proposed to achieve efficient oil–water separation. Using a melt-blowing process, polyolefin elastomer (POE) is blended with sodium secondary alkyl sulfonate (SAS) and polypropylene (PP) to create a fluffy, elastic, and amphiphilic microfibrous structure. The introduction of a small amount of SAS significantly enhances the hydrophilicity of POE/PP@SAS microfiber fabrics, imparting the fabric with the ability to rapidly pass oil or water. Simultaneously, as the POE content increases from 30 % to 70 %, the POE/PP@SAS microfiber fabric exhibits excellent oil–water separation performance for different immiscible oil–water mixtures, with the separation flux significantly increasing from 197.0 L/(m2·h) to 8571.4 L/(m2·h). In a addition, the machine direction and cross direction tensile recovery rates are 75.4 % and 65.3 %, respectively, at a POE mass ratio of 70 %. The synthesized POE/PP@SAS microfibrous fabric maintains a robust and stable compression recovery performance even after multiple compression cycles, demonstrating its excellent oil adsorption capacity. These findings suggest that POE/PP@SAS microfibrous fabrics are promising materials for effective oil–water separation applications, with significant potential for large-scale environmental remediation.