Oil sorbents play a very important part in the remediation processes of oil spills. To enhance the oil-sorption properties and simplify the oil-recovery process, various advanced oil sorbents and oil-collecting devices based on them have been proposed recently. Here, we firstly discuss the design considerations for the fabrication of oil sorbents and describe recently developed oil sorbents based on modification strategy. Then, recent advances regarding oil sorbents mainly based on carbon materials and swellable oleophilic polymers are also presented. Subsequently, some additional properties are emphasized, which are required by oil sorbents to cope with oil spills under extreme conditions or to facilitate the oil-collection processes. Furthermore, some oil-collection devices based on oil sorbents that have been developed recently are shown. Finally, an outlook and challenges for the next generation of oil-spill-remediation technology based on oil-sorbents materials are given.

A stretchable and multiple-force-sensitive electronic fabric based on stretchable coaxial sensor electrodes is fabricated for artificial-skin application. This electronic fabric, with only one kind of sensor unit, can simultaneously map and quantify the mechanical stresses induced by normal pressure, lateral strain, and flexion.

The clean-up of viscous crude-oil spills is a global challenge. Hydrophobic and oleophilic oil sorbents have been demonstrated as promising candidates for oil-spill remediation. However, the sorption speeds of these oil sorbents for viscous crude oil are rather limited. Herein we report a Joule-heated graphene-wrapped sponge (GWS) to clean-up viscous crude oil at a high sorption speed. The Joule heat of the GWS reduced in situ the viscosity of the crude oil, which prominently increased the oil-diffusion coefficient in the pores of the GWS and thus speeded up the oil-sorption rate. The oil-sorption time was reduced by 94.6% compared with that of non-heated GWS. Besides, the oil-recovery speed was increased because of the viscosity decrease of crude oil. This in situ Joule self-heated sorbent design will promote the practical application of hydrophobic and oleophilic oil sorbents in the clean-up of viscous crude-oil spills.

Unidirectional underwater gas bubble (UGB) transport on a surface is realized by buoyant force or wettability gradient force (F wet-grad ) derived from a tailored geography. Unfortunately, intentional control of the UGB over transport speed, direction, and routes on horizontal planar surfaces is rarely explored. Herein reported is a light-responsive slippery lubricantinfused porous surface (SLIPS) composed of selective lubricants and super-hydrophobic micropillar-arrayed Fe 3 O 4 /polydimethylsiloxane film. Upon this SLIPS, the UGB can be horizontally actuated along arbitrary directions by remotely loading/discharging unilateral near-infrared (NIR) stimuli. The underlying mechanism is that F wet-grad can be generated within 1 s in the presence of a NIR-trigger due to the photothermal effect of Fe 3 O 4 . Once the NIR-stimuli are discharged, F wet-grad vanishes to break the UGB on the SLIPS. Moreover, performed are systematic para meter studies to investigate the influence of bubble volume, lubricant rheology, and F wet-grad on the UGB steering performance. Fundamental physics renders the achievement of antibuoyancy manipulation of the UGBs on an inclined SLIPS. Significantly, steering UGBs by horizontal SLIPS to configurate diverse patterns, as well as facilitating light-control-light optical shutter, is deployed. Compared with the previous slippery surfaces, light-responsive SLIPS is more competent for manipulating UGBs with controllable transport speed, direction, and routes independent of buoyancy or geography derivative force.