The increasing seriousness of environmental pollution arising from
oil spills, chemical leaks and industrial organic wastewater discharge
has become an important issue demanding prompt solution. Extensive
researches have been carried out to develop novel high-performance
absorbent materials. For instance, Hrubesh et al. [1–3] fabricated different
types of hydrophobic silica aerogels, which effectively removed organic
liquids from aqueous solutions and mixtures. Zheng et al. [4]
reported hybrid aerogels composed of polyvinyl alcohol and cellulose
nanofibril. After being treated with methyltrichlorosilane, the
superhydrophobic