Superhydrophobic CuO coating fabricated on cotton fabric for oil/water separation and photocatalytic degradation

Cupric oxide (CuO) nanostructures have attracted great interest and are extensively applied for superhydrophobic coatings and photocatalysis. In this study, leaf-like CuO nanostructures were constructed on the surface of cotton fabric via simple and practical solution immersion processes. The generated CuO nanoleaves can provide the fabric with more interest properties including superhydrophobicity and photocatalysis. Therefore, the CuO coated fabric held superhydrophobicity with a water contact angle of 151.5 +/- 1 degrees by further 1-dodecanethiol modification. Due to the simultaneous superhydrophobicity and superoleophilicity, the asprepared fabric was used for the separation of several oil/water mixtures and exhibited good recyclability. Also, we applied the superhydrophobic fabric to degrade methylene blue aqueous solution under visible light irradiation for assessing its photocatalytic performance. After being exposed to visible light for 120 min, about 99.8% methylene blue was degraded, implying excellent photocatalytic activity. This facile, cost-effective, scalable, environmental-friendly and efficient methodology presented in this study is promising for multi-component wastewater treatment and oil spill cleaning.