Graft copolymerization of MA/(TFEA or TFPM) onto cellulosic fibers for surface hydrophobicity

Abstract

Highly hydrophobicity was imparted to cellulose paper substrate by grafting trifluoroethyl acrylate/methyl acrylate (TFEA/MA) and tetrafluoropropyl methacrylate/methyl acrylate (TFPM/MA) with Fenton reagent initiator (Fe2+–H2O2). The influences of modifications in chemical structure and hydrophobicity were examined. The chemical structure and surface morphology of the modified filter paper was characterized by FT-IR, XPS, solid-state 13C NMR, and SEM. The results from 13C NMR spectroscopy revealed that MA was mainly grafted onto cellulose C6-OH by selecting cellobiose as the model compound of cellulose. The water contact angle of the treated filter paper reached 139° and 145° with MA/TFPM grafting at MA:TFPM = 3:1 ratio and with MA/TFEA grafting at MA:TFEA = 3:1 ratio, respectively. The resulting highly hydrophobic paper was used to separate water from oil/water mixtures. The efficiency of separating water from their mixture with n-hexane, cyclohexane, ethyl acetate, and 1, 2-dichloroethane exceeded 90%.