Randomizing carbon nanotubes into a "sponge"

I'd not have thought of trying it, but some scientists figured that carbon nanotubes would be more generally useful if there was some way to making a robust mesh or nest of them. Adding boron when making them seems to make the tubes "kink", and therefore link and even bond together. The result is a spongy mass that is "hydrophobic" but sucks up oils.

Obvious use: cleanup.

To demonstrate, Hashim dropped the sponge into a dish of water with used motor oil floating on top. The sponge soaked it up. He then put a match to the material, burned off the oil and returned the sponge to the water to absorb more. The robust sponge can be used repeatedly and stands up to abuse; he said a sample remained elastic after about 10,000 compressions in the lab. The sponge can also store the oil for later retrieval, he said.

They think of uses for filters, scaffolds for bone growth, or as the framework for composite materials. (I wonder how loose the boron is--would this be suitable for all uses of carbon nanotubes or just the ones that don't leach out the boron.)

It would be very interesting to find out what happens with contaminated oils, such as those from car oil changes. Do the metals stay with the sponge (presumably eventually clogging it) when the oil is baked off?

I'm not sure I'd try dumping this on an oil spill in the ocean--I suspect it wouldn't be good for fish to eat.

Watch it bounce, or soak up oil.

I notice that the lead scientist in the group is a grad student. Good for him.