Bioinspired Solar-Heated Carbon Absorbent for Efficient Cleanup of Highly Viscous Crude Oil

Efficient cleanup of viscous crude oil spill is a worldwide challenge due to its sluggish flowability at room temperature. Conventional oil remediation methods using physical absorbers, skimmers, and vacuum technologies either demonstrate low absorption efficiency or have severe operational restrictions. Inspired by the highly efficient and passive transpiration process in trees, a solar-heated carbon absorber (HC-Wood) with an inherited wood structure of aligned channels for rapid crude oil absorption is reported. The unique porous structure of the carbon absorber can extend the light absorption paths, guide the direction of heat transport, and decrease the resistance to oil flows, endowing the carbon absorber a large efficiency of solar absorption (>99% of the incident irradiation), excellent thermal management, and fast capillarity-driven oil absorption behavior. The low tortuosity of the porous structure together with the efficient solar-thermal conversion enable the absorber to demonstrate a crude oil absorption rate of 1550 mL m ⁻² in 30 s under 1 sun irradiation, which is 10 times faster than previously reported results for passive absorption of viscous crude oil. Given the unique structural design, low operating cost, and rapid oil absorption speed, this work provides a promising solution for addressing catastrophic large-area viscous oil spills.