Melt electrospinning of polyethylene fibres for oil collection from water surface

Polyethylene nonwoven materials were obtained by the melt electrospinning. The average fiber diameter in the produced nonwovens was 5.3 μm, and the packing density was estimated as 5.2%. Wide-angle X-ray diffraction analysis showed that the polymer does not undergo significant changes in the supramolecular structure during electrospinning process: both pellets and fibers are characterized by the presence of reflections typical for the orthorhombic crystal lattice of polyethylene. The obtained materials demonstrate high hydrophobicity and oleophilicity, which allows using them as sorbents for oil spills removal. The maximum motor oil sorption capacity of the resulting nonwovens was 96 g/g.