Energy-Optimized Oil Spill Cleanup: Joule-/Solar-Heating Copper Foam for Efficient All-Weather Recovery of Viscous Crude Oil

Joule-heating and solar-heating sorbentsfor efficient cleanupof viscous oil spills have emerged as effective strategies due totheir high availability and feasibility. However, effectively integratingboth the approaches to maximize energy input savings remains a significantchallenge. This work aimed to develop an energy-optimized Joule-/solar-heatingsuperhydrophobic sorbent for the remediation of viscous oil spills.To achieve this, copper foam (CF) was utilized as the substrate dueto its inherently high thermal and electrical conductivity, and CuSnanosheet-coated CuO nanowires (CuS/CuO NWs) with enhanced near-infraredabsorption and high-efficiency photothermal conversion were used asthe functional coating. The sorbent, named H-CuS/CuO/CF, wasfabricated by in situ constructing grass-like arrays of CuS/CuO NWsonto the CF skeleton and subsequent hydrophobic modification. Theresultant sorbent retained the high Joule-heating effect and low energyconsumption characteristic of metal-based sorbents. Additionally,it exhibited an enhanced sunlight absorption and a high photothermaleffect attributed to the hierarchical nanostructure arrays of theCuS/CuO coating. The equilibrium temperature of the H-CuS/CuO/CFcan achieve about 130 & DEG;C within 50 s at a low voltage of 1 Vand around 67 & DEG;C within 300 s at 1.0 sun irradiation (light intensityof 1 kW/m(2)). The high-efficiency Joule/solar-to-heat capabilityof the sorbent enables the effective recovery of highly viscous oils(1.6 x 10(5) mPa s at 12 & DEG;C) that are challengingto manage at the ambient temperature. The continuous oil capacityreached about 3.25 x 10(3) kg & BULL;m(-3) in 270 s under the assistance of an in situ pumping device and alow voltage input. Moreover, the resulting sorbent with a high mechanicalskeleton and stable wettability showed high durability. Thus, theJoule/solar-heating H-CuS/CuO/CF sorbent with an efficientthermal conversion performance and high heat transfer offers a promisingand energy-efficient strategy for all-weather cleanup of highly viscousoil spills.