A self-cleaning polybenzoxazine/TiO₂ surface with superhydrophobicity and superoleophilicity for oil/water separation

Abstract

Two important properties-the low surface free energy of polybenzoxazine (PBZ) and the photocatalysis-induced self-cleaning property of titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles-are combined to develop a promising approach for oil/water separation. They are integrated into a multifunctional superhydrophobic and superoleophilic material, PBZ/TiO2 modified polyester non-woven fabrics (PBZT), through a simple dip coating and subsequent thermal curing method. The resulting PBZT reveals excellent mechanical durability and strong resistance to ultraviolet (UV) irradiation as well as acid and alkali. This durable superhydrophobic and superoleophilic fabric is efficient for separating oil/water mixtures by gravity with high separation efficiency, and it can also purify wastewater that contains soluble dyes, which makes it more effective and promising in treating water pollution. Importantly, PBZT demonstrates an integrated self-cleaning performance on the removal of both oil and particle contamination. It is expected that this simple process can be readily adopted for the design of multifunctional PBZ/TiO2 based materials for oil/water separation.

Recycling and Self-Healing of Polybenzoxazines with Dynamic Sulfide Linkages

“…In recent years, research interest has been directed towards benzoxazine-based smart and advanced materials rather than alternative materials to conventional phenolics, epoxies and their composites. Although, the use of benzoxazines to produce smart materials is relatively premature, several examples such as smart coatings 45, 46 , shape memory PBZs 47 , nanofoams 48 , superhydrophobic surfaces 49–51 , self-cleaning surfaces 52 , and electrochromic devices 53, 54 were disclosed. Furthermore, self-healing PBZ materials were produced successfully 55–57 .…”

Facile fabrication of superhydrophilic membranes consisted of fibrous tunicate cellulose nanocrystals for highly efficient oil/water separation

“…[37] Owing to the membranes usually need to tolerate large hydrostatic pressure or even violent mechanical vibrations by pumps in the application situation for oil/water emulsion separation, so the mechanical strength of the TCNC membranes was vital. As shown in Fig.…”

Recent Progress in Fabrication and Applications of Superhydrophobic Coating on Cellulose-Based Substrates

“…On the other hand, the smartly self-healing surface properties, and rational strategies for mechanical abrasion make these robust superhydrophobic fabrics more reliable for practical applications and commercialization in clothing industries. In this section, we mainly focus on the development of durable cellulose-based materials with superhydrophobic properties in oil-water separation, self-cleaning and asymmetric fabrics [123,124,125,126,127,128,129,130,131,132,133,134,135,136,137,138,139,140,141,142,143,144]. …”

“…Hydrophobic porous materials have gained tremendous interests because of their capability of selective absorption of oils/organic solvents while completely repelling water [129,130,131,132,133,134,135,136,137,138,139,140,141,142,143,144]. Inspired from mussel, Huang’ group fabricated the superhydrophobic sponge by decorating polydopamine nanoaggregates with n-dodecylthiol motifs on the skeletons of PU sponge [129].…”