Journal
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
Volume 8, Issue 8, Pages 5661-5667Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.5b11720
Keywords
superhydrophobic; superoleophobic; pH-responsive wettability; cotton; oil-water separation
Funding
- Australia Research Council (ARC) through a Discovery project [DP110101315]
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We present a simple, environmentally friendly approach to fabricating superhydrophobic coatings with pH-induced wettability transition. The coatings are prepared from a mixture of silica nanoparticles and decanoic acid-modified TiO2. When the coating is applied on cotton fabric, the fabric turns superhydrophobic in air but superoleophilic in neutral aqueous environment. It is permeable to oil fluids but impermeable to water. However, when the coated fabric is placed in basic aqueous solution or ammonia vapor, it turns hydrophilic but underwater superoleophobic, thus allowing water to penetrate through but blocking oil. Therefore, such a unique selective water/oil permeation feature makes the treated fabric have capability to separate either oil or water from a water-oil mixture. It may be useful for development of smart oil water separators, microfluidic valves, and lab-on-a-chip devices.
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