Antibacterial waterborne polyacrylate coated fabric with underwater superoleophobicity and underoil superhydrophobicity for continuous oil/water separation

Abstract

Antibacterial superamphiphilic materials with green and facile preparation process have attracted extensive attention in oil/water separation. Herein, an antibacterial waterborne polyacrylate (AWBPA) composed of [2-(methacryloyloxy)-ethyl] trimethylammonium chloride (METAC) and basic acrylate monomers has been successfully developed using the emulsion polymerization method and water as the sole solvent. By sequentially simple dip-coating of polyethyleneimine (PEI) and AWBPA, the polyester fabric can be endowed with the superamphiphilic and antibacterial properties. By prewetting with water/oil, the modified fabric holds underwater superoleophobicity/underoil superhydrophobicity, and can be used for continuous separation of light oil/water, heavy oil/water and light oil/water/heavy oil mixtures. Importantly, these modified fabrics have high antibacterial activity (99.3 ± 0.2 %), and can maintain its underwater superoleophobicity and underoil superhydrophobicity even after immersion in corrosive solution for 15 d, 100 g sand impact and 200-cycle adhesive tape-peeling, and are suitable for practical large-scale production applications.