Application of superhydrophobic ZnO rod composites with environmentally-friendly and photodegradation properties in water environment treatment

The treatment of water pollution is faced with a severe postgraduate examination, which shows that pollutants of different properties, such as water-soluble and non-water-soluble pollutants, exist at the same time. In this paper, superhydrophobic S-ZnO/BiOBr cotton (SH cotton) is designed, which has the ability to degrade water-soluble pollutants through light response and the performance of selective removal of organic solvents. The water contact angle of droplets on the surface of the material reached 162?, on which toluene spread rapidly. When applied to an environment with water-soluble pollutants, the material showed an excellent cyclic degradation ability, and the degradation efficiency of 5 cycles? was higher than 98.4%. Importantly, the 3 cycles of outdoor degradation efficiency was higher than 92.1% under the actual working conditions. The VB positions of the SZnO and BiOBr were calculated to be 2.89 eV and 2.96 eV, respectively. The CB positions of the S-ZnO and BiOBr were calculated to be -0.31 eV and 0.38 eV, respectively.

Automated summary

This study designed a superhydrophobic cotton material that degrades water-soluble pollutants under light response and selectively removes organic solvents, showing excellent cyclic degradation ability. The material's water contact angle reached 162°, allowing rapid spreading of toluene, and it maintained high degradation efficiency under actual working conditions.