Fabrication of durable superhydrophobic nanofibrous filters for oil‐water separation using three novel modified nanoparticles (ZnO‐NSPO, AlOO‐NSPO, and TiO2‐NSPO)

Abstract

Three reusable and durable superhydrophobic nanofibrous filters were prepared by dip coating the nanofibrous fabric in the three different dispersed solutions of the newly modified nanoparticles (ZnO‐NSPO, AlOO‐NSPO, and titanium dioxide [TiO2]‐NSPO). The contact angle results proved that the TiO2‐NSPO coated nanofibrous polyacrylonitrile (PAN) filter was hydrophobic with the water contact angle (WCA) of 141° while the ZnO‐NSPO and AlOO‐NSPO coated nanofibrous PAN filters were superhydrophobic with the WCA of 168° and 152°, respectively. The as‐prepared filters can be utilized as an effective martial for oil‐water separation with separation efficiency of over 98%.