Big Reaction: a new tool to fight oil spills
![Oleo Sponge](https://i0.wp.com/blog.cassandrahunt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/oleo_sponge.gif?resize=640%2C359)
This exciting new foam was produced by Argonne National Laboratory as a method to help combat oil spills.
This polyurethane-based foam can absorb 30-90x its weight in oil. It’s created by first coating the foam in aluminum oxide (Al2O3) and then using a silane (SiH4) agent to make the surface oleophilic. Since it’s a foam structure, the large surface area helps it soak up so much oil.
Argonne produced a video to show off their “Oleo Sponge”: