Facile generation of crumpled polymer strips by immersion electrospinning for oil spill cleanups

The fabrication of electrospun products with desired structures and improved oil sorption capacities has attracted increasing attention in recent years; however, the overall geometry of electrospun products has rarely been investigated. Herein, we report a promising and competitive strategy for the preparation of novel electrospun polystyrene (PS) strips with advanced crumpled geometries for oil spill cleanups. The crumpled PS strips were prepared by immersion electrospinning, in which the nozzle and collector were simultaneously immersed in a coagulation bath. By controlling the processing parameters such as applied voltage and polymer concentration, the geometric morphology of the crumpled strips was precisely regulated. Benefiting from the crumpled structure, the crumpled strips demonstrated oil sorption capacities of approximately 83, 77, and 72 g/g for silicone, canola, and mineral oils, respectively. These values significantly higher than the values exhibited by the straight conventional electrospun fibers. The reported strategy offers a novel perspective on the rational design of electrospun products for oil sorption applications.