Oil sorption and recovery by using vertically aligned carbon nanotubes

We used carbon nanotubes as oil adsorbents and evaluated recycling performance by squeezing method. The sorption capacity of 3 mm long vertically aligned carbon nanotubes is almost 6.9 times higher than that of agglomerated carbon nanotubes due to the existence of large-sized macropores. Compared with exfoliated graphite (41 g/g), aligned carbon nanotubes exhibit higher sorption capacity (69 g/g) and better recycling performance due to their unique mechanical strength and excellent rebound resilience properties at high strains.