Titania: a material-based approach to oil spill remediation?

On the evening of April 20th, an explosion and fire took place on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, which was located fifty miles southeast of the town of Venice near the Louisiana coast. Soon thereafter, the rig sank 5,000 feet below the water surface to the floor of the Gulf of Mexico. Before a containment cap fully sealed the wellhead on July 15th, crude oil leaked from the blown-out wellhead at an astonishing rate. Prior to closure, scientists estimated that approximately 60,000 barrels entered the Gulf of Mexico from the wellhead each day.