Double biomimetic fabrication of robustly superhydrophobic cotton fiber and its application in oil spill cleanup

Abstract

Inspired by the bioadhesion of marine mussels, superhydrophobic cotton fiber for oil sorption was fabricated by robust immobilization of silica nanoparticles on the fiber surface via polydopamine adhesion and subsequent hydrophobic modification. The as-prepared fiber can quickly absorb a series of oils and organic pollutants. Compared with raw fiber, the increasing rate of oil sorption capacity of the as-prepared fiber for n-hexane, toluene, chloroform, linseed oil, paraffin oil, and crude oil can reach 39.8%, 35.2%, 29.4%, 39.3%, 41.7%, and 34.0%, respectively. The modified fiber displayed excellent oil/water selectivity in the removal of various oils from water. Furthermore, the resulting fiber can be recycled more than 80 times without obvious loss of oil sorption capability. These results demonstrate that the as-prepared oil sorbent is promising in environmental remediation for large-scale removal of spilled oils from water.