Facile fabrication of durable superhydrophobic mesh via candle soot for oil-water separation

Abstract

Nowadays, the use of superhydrophobic materials for potential application prospects such as oil/water separation and self-cleaning has gained growing interests. However, a simple and low-cost strategy for fabrication of durable superhydrophobic materials remains a major challenge. Herein, a facile strategy to fabricate durable superhydrophobic stainless steel mesh (SH-M) was obtained by the deposition of candle soot and polydimethylsiloxane solution immersion. The SH-M showed a water contact angle of 156° and a roll-off angle of 3°. In addition, surfaces kept superhydrophobic under water temperature of 0–50 °C and almost corrosive aqueous media. More importantly, the surface remained high water contact angle (>140°) under water temperature of 50–90 °C and mechanical durability test. Further, the folded SH-M boat with a commercial foam can be successful used to absorb the oil under external magnet drive. This work proposes a facile route to prepare superhydrophobic materials for oil-water separation, showing great potential in large-scale practical application.