Vapor-Liquid Sol-Gel Approach to Fabricating Highly Durable and Robust Superhydrophobic Polydimethylsiloxane@Silica Surface on Polyester Textile for Oil-Water Separation.

Large-scale fabrication of superhydrophobic surfaces with excellent durability by simple techniques has been of considerable interest for its urgent practical application in oil-water separation in recent years. Herein, we proposed a facile vapor-liquid sol-gel approach to fabricating highly durable and robust superhydrophobic polydimethylsiloxane@silica surfaces on the cross-structure polyester textiles. Scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy demonstrated that the silica generated from the hydrolysis-condensation of tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) gradually aggregated at microscale driven by the extreme nonpolar dihydroxyl-terminated polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS(OH)). This led to construction of hierarchical roughness and micronano structures of the superhydrophobic textile surface. The as-fabricated superhydrophobic textile possessed outstanding durability in deionized water, various solvents, strong acid/base solutions, and boiling/ice water. Remarkably, the polyester textile still retained great water repellency and even after ultrasonic treatment for 18 h, 96 laundering cycles, and 600 abrasion cycles, exhibiting excellent mechanical robustness. Importantly, the superhydrophobic polyester textile was further applied for oil-water separation as absorption materials and/or filter pipes, presenting high separation efficiency and great reusability. Our method to construct superhydrophobic textiles is simple but highly efficient; no special equipment, chemicals, or atmosphere is required. Additionally, no fluorinated slianes and organic solvents are involved, which is very beneficial for environment safety and protection. Our findings conceivably stand out as a new tool to fabricate organic-inorganic superhydrophobic surfaces with strong durability and robustness for practical applications in oil spill accidents and industrial sewage emission.

[1]  D. Reinhoudt,et al.  What Do We Need for a Superhydrophobic Surface? A Review on the Recent Progress in the Preparation of Superhydrophobic Surfaces , 2007 .

[2]  Caihong Xu,et al.  Highly transparent and durable superhydrophobic hybrid nanoporous coatings fabricated from polysiloxane. , 2014, ACS applied materials & interfaces.

[3]  Joon Young Cho,et al.  Bioinspired Multifunctional Superhydrophobic Surfaces with Carbon-Nanotube-Based Conducting Pastes by Facile and Scalable Printing. , 2017, ACS applied materials & interfaces.

[4]  M. Vaezi,et al.  Preparation of silane-functionalized silica films via two-step dip coating sol–gel and evaluation of their superhydrophobic properties , 2014 .

[5]  Xiaotao Zhu,et al.  Robust and durable superhydrophobic cotton fabrics for oil/water separation. , 2013, ACS applied materials & interfaces.

[6]  G de With,et al.  Biomimetic superhydrophobic and highly oleophobic cotton textiles. , 2007, Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids.

[7]  S. Ghasemi,et al.  The low threshold voltage n-type silicon transistors based on a polymer/silica nanocomposite gate dielectric: The effect of annealing temperatures on their operation , 2017 .

[8]  Yanfeng Gao,et al.  Ambient-pressure drying synthesis of large resorcinol–formaldehyde-reinforced silica aerogels with enhanced mechanical strength and superhydrophobicity , 2014 .

[9]  Bharat Bhushan,et al.  Natural and biomimetic artificial surfaces for superhydrophobicity, self-cleaning, low adhesion, and drag reduction , 2011 .

[10]  Xingrong Zeng,et al.  Polydimethylsiloxane-Based Superhydrophobic Surfaces on Steel Substrate: Fabrication, Reversibly Extreme Wettability and Oil-Water Separation. , 2017, ACS applied materials & interfaces.

[11]  H. Shon,et al.  Superhydrophobic nanofiber membrane containing carbon nanotubes for high-performance direct contact membrane distillation , 2016 .

[12]  Qinghua Zhang,et al.  Superhydrophobic and anti-icing properties at overcooled temperature of a fluorinated hybrid surface prepared via a sol-gel process. , 2015, Soft matter.

[13]  F. He,et al.  Sliding of water droplets on microstructured hydrophobic surfaces. , 2010, Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids.

[14]  Chih-Feng Wang,et al.  Preparation of Superwetting Porous Materials for Ultrafast Separation of Water-in-Oil Emulsions. , 2017, Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids.

[15]  Jianzhong Ma,et al.  Fabrication of robust superhydrophobic surfaces by modification of chemically roughened fibers via thiol–ene click chemistry , 2015 .

[16]  W. Wentao,et al.  Synthesis of Structure-Controlled Polyborosiloxanes and Investigation on Their Viscoelastic Response to Molecular Mass of Polydimethylsiloxane Triggered by Both Chemical and Physical Interactions , 2016 .

[17]  Mingjie Liu,et al.  Recent developments in polymeric superoleophobic surfaces , 2012 .

[18]  A. Turco,et al.  A magnetic and highly reusable macroporous superhydrophobic/superoleophilic PDMS/MWNT nanocomposite for oil sorption from water , 2015 .

[19]  J. Mano,et al.  Micro/nano-structured superhydrophobic surfaces in the biomedical field: part II: applications overview. , 2015, Nanomedicine.

[20]  Ye Tian,et al.  Bioinspired super-wettability from fundamental research to practical applications. , 2015, Angewandte Chemie.

[21]  Weixin Liang,et al.  Biomimetic super-lyophobic and super-lyophilic materials applied for oil/water separation: a new strategy beyond nature. , 2015, Chemical Society reviews.

[22]  Tong Lin,et al.  Fluoroalkyl Silane Modified Silicone Rubber/Nanoparticle Composite: A Super Durable, Robust Superhydrophobic Fabric Coating , 2012, Advanced materials.

[23]  C. Kim,et al.  A dynamic Cassie-Baxter model. , 2015, Soft matter.

[24]  Lei Jiang,et al.  Bioinspired Surfaces with Superwettability: New Insight on Theory, Design, and Applications. , 2015, Chemical reviews.

[25]  J. Coates.  Interpretation of Infrared Spectra, A Practical Approach , 2006 .

[26]  Jie Zhu,et al.  Superelastic and superhydrophobic nanofiber-assembled cellular aerogels for effective separation of oil/water emulsions. , 2015, ACS nano.

[27]  Bucheng Li,et al.  Durable and self-healing superamphiphobic coatings repellent even to hot liquids. , 2016, Chemical communications.

[28]  Weiwei Shi,et al.  High-Efficiency Fog Collector: Water Unidirectional Transport on Heterogeneous Rough Conical Wires. , 2016, ACS nano.

[29]  Yang Li,et al.  Intumescent flame-retardant and self-healing superhydrophobic coatings on cotton fabric. , 2015, ACS nano.

[30]  D. McAdams,et al.  Nano/Micro‐Manufacturing of Bioinspired Materials: a Review of Methods to Mimic Natural Structures , 2016, Advanced materials.

[31]  Zhong Chen,et al.  Mechanically robust superhydrophobic and superoleophobic coatings derived by sol–gel method , 2016 .

[32]  Shanshan Chen,et al.  Silver‐Nanoparticle‐Colored Cotton Fabrics with Tunable Colors and Durable Antibacterial and Self‐Healing Superhydrophobic Properties , 2016 .

[33]  Lei Jiang,et al.  Applications of Bio‐Inspired Special Wettable Surfaces , 2011, Advanced materials.

[34]  Xiao Hu,et al.  Additive-free poly (vinylidene fluoride) aerogel for oil/water separation and rapid oil absorption , 2017 .

[35]  Enis Tuncer,et al.  Nonfunctionalized polydimethyl siloxane superhydrophobic surfaces based on hydrophobic-hydrophilic interactions. , 2011, Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids.

[36]  Tao Chen,et al.  Controlled functionalization of carbon nanotubes as superhydrophobic material for adjustable oil/water separation , 2015 .

[37]  Xinghua Wu,et al.  Development of durable self-cleaning coatings using organic–inorganic hybrid sol–gel method , 2015 .

[38]  S. Seeger,et al.  Polyester Materials with Superwetting Silicone Nanofilaments for Oil/Water Separation and Selective Oil Absorption , 2011 .

[39]  Jianzhong Ma,et al.  Washable and wear-resistant superhydrophobic surfaces with self-cleaning property by chemical etching of fibers and hydrophobization. , 2014, ACS applied materials & interfaces.

[40]  Robin H. A. Ras,et al.  Unusual Dual Superlyophobic Surfaces in Oil–Water Systems: The Design Principles , 2016, Advanced materials.

[41]  Xiaodong Sun,et al.  Low Drag Porous Ship with Superhydrophobic and Superoleophilic Surface for Oil Spills Cleanup. , 2015, ACS applied materials & interfaces.

[42]  Tai Hun Kwon,et al.  Effects of intrinsic hydrophobicity on wettability of polymer replicas of a superhydrophobic lotus leaf , 2007 .

[43]  R. Advíncula,et al.  Inorganic-Organic Thiol-ene Coated Mesh for Oil/Water Separation. , 2015, ACS applied materials & interfaces.

[44]  Snober Ahmed,et al.  Paper-based chemical and biological sensors: Engineering aspects. , 2016, Biosensors & bioelectronics.

[45]  Bucheng Li,et al.  Magnetic, durable, and superhydrophobic polyurethane@Fe3O4@SiO2@fluoropolymer sponges for selective oil absorption and oil/water separation. , 2015, ACS applied materials & interfaces.

[46]  Derek L. Patton,et al.  Superhydrophobic hybrid inorganic-organic thiol-ene surfaces fabricated via spray-deposition and photopolymerization. , 2013, ACS applied materials & interfaces.

[47]  Yong Qin,et al.  A new kind of transparent and self-cleaning film for solar cells. , 2016, Nanoscale.

[48]  Jin Zhai,et al.  Directional water collection on wetted spider silk , 2010, Nature.

[49]  Liyuan Sun,et al.  A novel carbon nanotubes reinforced superhydrophobic and superoleophilic polyurethane sponge for selective oil–water separation through a chemical fabrication , 2015 .

[50]  Jun‐Bo Yoon,et al.  Self-cleaning hybrid energy harvester to generate power from raindrop and sunlight , 2015 .

[51]  Jie Kong,et al.  Constructing magnetic Si–C–Fe hybrid microspheres for room temperature nitroarenes reduction , 2017 .

[52]  Wei-Heng Huang,et al.  Robust superhydrophobic transparent coatings fabricated by a low-temperature sol–gel process , 2014 .

[53]  Wilhelm Barthlott,et al.  Characterization and Distribution of Water-repellent, Self-cleaning Plant Surfaces , 1997 .

[54]  R. N. Wenzel.  RESISTANCE OF SOLID SURFACES TO WETTING BY WATER , 1936 .

[55]  Xia Zhao,et al.  Durable superhydrophobic/superoleophilic PDMS sponges and their applications in selective oil absorption and in plugging oil leakages , 2014 .

[56]  M. Lai,et al.  Anisotropic Wettability of Biomimetic Micro/Nano Dual‐Scale Inclined Cones Fabricated by Ferrofluid‐Molding Method , 2015 .