Robust and self-healing superhydrophobic cotton fabric via UV induced click chemistry for oil/water separation

Abstract

It is often difficult to guarantee the service life of fabric-based superhydrophobic materials that possess self-cleaning and oil–water separation capabilities. To extend practical use, a robust, self-healing superhydrophobic and superoleophilic cotton fabric was successfully prepared by simple impregnation and UV irradiation. The obtained superhydrophobic cotton had a contact angle of 152.4°. The as-prepared fabric showed excellent stability and remained superhydrophobic when soaked in corrosive liquids. Moreover, the prepared fabric can be used as an absorbent to separate the small amount of oil from the oil–water mixture and could be an oil/water separator by a simple device with the separation efficiency over 96%. More importantly, after 200 cycles of severe abrasion, the as-prepared fabric can retain superhydrophobicity and exhibit excellent self-healing property by simple heating treatment. With high oil–water separation efficiency and strong stability, the fabric prepared by this environmental-friendly method may contribute to the development of durable superhydrophobic materials.