Preparation of superhydrophobic materials for oil/water separation and oil absorption using PMHS–TEOS-derived xerogel and polystyrene

• Published in: Journal of sol-gel science and technology 2014-11, Vol.72 (2), p.385-393
• Main Authors: Guo, Ping, Zhai, Shang-Ru, Xiao, Zuo-Yi, Zhang, Feng, An, Qing-Da, Song, Xiao-Wei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abrasion; Abrasion resistance; Absorption; Ceramics; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Colloidal gels. Colloidal sols; Colloidal state and disperse state; Composites; Dip coatings; Exact sciences and technology; Fabrics; Filter paper; General and physical chemistry; Glass; Hydrophobic surfaces; Hydrophobicity; Immersion coating; Inorganic Chemistry; Materials Science; Nanotechnology; Natural Materials; Oil spills; Optical and Electronic Materials; Organic chemistry; Organic liquids; Original Paper; Polyester resins; Polyesters; Polystyrene resins; Seawater; Separation; Sponges; Tetraethyl orthosilicate; Waste water; Wastewater; Xerogels
• ISSN: 0928-0707; 1573-4846
• DOI: 10.1007/s10971-014-3446-x

Fabrication of s uerhydrophobic materials towards oil/water separation and oil absorption has been receiving great attention nowadays, due to the significant increase of industrial oily wastewater and frequent accident of oil spill. In most previous studies, the usage of expensive precursors restricted the wide applications of prepared superhydrophobic materials. In this work, superhydrophobic filter paper, fabric and polyester sponges were fabricated by dip-coating the mixed solution of polystyrene and xerogels, which were prepared with tetraethoxysilane and polymethylhydrosiloxane, based on previous work. The as-fabricated fabric can effectively separate oil and water mixtures and possesses excellent reusability; more significantly, the materials maintained its good hydrophobic and excellent oil/water separation capacity even after ten cycles. Interestingly enough, the stability was provided, as a result, the fabric still exhibited superhydrophobic after 100 abrasion times and showed high repellency towards many liquids with different pH values. Additionally, the coated polyester sponges can quickly absorb various oil and organic liquid, which will offer a practical application for the treatment of seawater or oily wastewater. By contrast, this experiment process is simple and avoided using costly fluoro-chemicals or complicated fabrication process.