Robust Superhydrophobic Fabric for Durability,Self-Cleaning,and Oil/Water Separation via Thiol–Acrylate Polymerization

In recent years, highly efficient oil/water separation materials have brought much attention. It requests superhydrophobic surfaces with a rapid and facile separation process, excellent durability, and large-scale fabrication. Herein, a facile vapor-liquid sol-gel, and free radical polymerization reaction method to prepare the durable and robust superhydrophobic cotton fabric is proposed. Moreover, the fabric can be used for highly efficient and various oil/water separation. It is prepared via a simple two-step process, including a vapor-liquid sol-gel process to deposit with thiols particles, and then followed a free radical polymerization reaction to graft 2,2,3,4,4,4-hexafluorobutyl methacrylate. Scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectrometry prove that the rough structures are generated from the hydrolysis condensation reaction between tetraethyl orthosilicate and 3-mercaptopropyltriethoxysilane. As a result, the synthetic chemical composition provided by the natural fabric and silica nanoparticles synergistically construct a superhydrophobic surface with water contact angles and shedding angle of 158° and 9°, respectively. Additionally, the treated fabric exhibits excellent chemical resistance and self-cleaning ability. Remarkably, the fabric still retains superhydrophobic and excellent mechanical robustness after 30 cycles of various oil/water separation. In summary, the resultant fabrics with excellent chemical resistance, remarkable mechanical robustness, and versatile separation abilities have potential applications in various oil/water separations.