Application of Superhydrophobic Mesh Coated by PDMS/TiO2 Nanocomposites for Oil/Water Separation

Superhydrophobic materials have recently attracted great interest from both academia and industry due to their promising applications in self-cleaning, oil-water separation, etc. Here, we developed a facile method to prepare hybrid PDMS/TiO2 fiber for superhydrophobic coatings. TiO2 could be uniformly distributed into PDMS, forming a hierarchical micro/nano structure on the surface of the substrate. The contact angle of the superhydrophobic coating could reach as high as 155 degrees. The superhydrophobic coating possessed good self-cleaning performance, corrosion resistance, and durability. It was found that gravity-driven oil-water separation was achieved using stainless steel mesh coated with the PDMS/TiO2 coating. More importantly, the coated filter paper could not only separate oil and pure water but also corrosive solutions, including the salt, acid, and alkali solution.

Automated summary

Superhydrophobic materials have attracted significant attention for their potential applications in self-cleaning and oil-water separation. A facile method was developed to prepare superhydrophobic coatings with a hierarchical micro/nano structure. The coatings exhibited high contact angles, self-cleaning performance, corrosion resistance, and durability. Coated filter paper was capable of separating various solutions.