Superhydrophobic and self-cleaning electrospun microfibers from recycled styrofoam

Abstract

Plastic debris and its fragments are carriers of harmful substances in the marine ecosystem, which has called for much-needed attention over the last few years. Expanded polystyrene (EPS) is a major marine pollutant. Herein, we explain the fabrication of novel water-repellent and self-cleaning microfibers via electrospinning of a polymeric solution with 5, 10, and 15 wt% of inclusions to manipulate their surface, thermal, and wetting properties. Surface chemistry, surface morphology, thermal degradation, wettability, and self-cleaning performance of the produced microfibers were investigated. It was observed that microfibers with 15 wt% inclusion exhibited the best thermal stability among all microfibers above 400 °C. Also, the addition of micro/nanoinclusions improved the strength and number of absorption peaks of the Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) spectra, in turn forming more functional groups. The incorporation of 15 wt% inclusion, after heat treatment at 70 °C for 6 h, produced the most superhydrophobic surface with the best self-cleaning performance with water contact angle of 172.44° ± 3.13°, contact angle hysteresis of 107.67° ± 5.94, and surface roughness of 21442 nm. Heat treatment and the concentration of micro/nanoinclusions significantly affected the self-cleaning capability of the fabricated microfibers. The fabricated microfibers could be used for anti-fogging and antibacterial applications, debris removal, and water–oil​ separation.