Superhydrophobic cotton fabric coated with tannic acid/polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane for highly effective oil/water separation

Superhydrophobic cotton fabric was fabricated by grafting aminopropyllsobutyl polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (NH2-POSS) at room temperature using a tannic acid inspired surface modification method. The impact of the NH2-POSS concentration on the hydrophobicity of the fabric was investigated. The obtained superhydrophobic fabric exhibited an outstanding self-cleaning ability and excellent durability by resisting corrosive liquids, sandpaper abrasion for15 cycles, adhesive tape peeling for 50 cycles, ultrasonic treatment for 60 min, and high temperature of 200 degrees C. Furthermore, the superhydrophobic fabric could be utilized as a promising filter screen for separating oils from water with ultrahigh flux (similar to 19,600 L m(-2) h(-1)) and separation efficiency (to 99.91%) even after 30 separation cycles. This method is simple, environmentally friendly, economical and practical. It can be used to produce superhydrophobic material on a large scale, which indicates its great potential in the field of oil-water separation.

Automated summary

The study demonstrated a simple method to fabricate superhydrophobic cotton fabric with excellent self-cleaning ability and durability, which can also be utilized for efficient separation of oils from water.