Fabrication and surface functionalization of melt electrospun nanofibers for marine oil spill treatment

Oil spills are an unavoidable risk during exploration, production, and transportation. In the event of an accident, the environmental impact is often severe and may even harm the local environment for decades. Therefore, there is a need to find a method and device that minimizes damage to the environment. Oil spill cleanup and remedy are still a challenge and raise global concern because of the many environmental complications associated with it. This chapter reviews existing methods and devices for oil spill cleanup, particularly the wetting phenomenon for oil absorption and membrane filtration methods for oil spill cleanup, and focuses on the properties of nanofiber materials and their use for manufacturing oil absorbents and cross-flow filtration membranes. In particular, this chapter discusses the performance, effectiveness, and applications of nanofibrous materials fabricated by the solution and hot melt electrospinning technique.