Development of Thick Superhydrophilic TiO₂–ZrO₂ Transparent Coatings Realized through the Inclusion of Poly(methyl methacrylate) and Pluronic-F127

Abstract

A thick coating of hierarchically porous double-templated TiO 2 –ZrO 2 –PMMA–PF127 with excellent self-cleaning properties and high transmittance has been developed for the first time on glass substrates using a simple dip-coating technique. Comparative studies of this sample with a thick and transparent coating of single-templated TiO 2 –ZrO 2 –PMMA have been performed to probe the origin of its exceptional properties. The formation of the composites, successful incorporation of the polymer into the matrix, and the porous nature of the films have been studied. The presence of Ti 2+ in the double-templated samples has been confirmed, which suggest the chemisorption of water on the surface of the film. The variation in the self-cleaning properties of the samples on UV-illumination has also been studied. The double-templated film is found to possess the capability of good hydrophilic retention even 2 days after UV-irradiation.

Polycarbonate and activated charcoal-engineered electrospun nanofibers for selective recovery of oil/solvent from oily wastewater

“…In a summary, FTIR study revealed the presence of polar functional groups like C=O, C-O, and O-C-O, which bring polarity onto molecules, thereby repelling the polar groups present in water, which in turn helps in improving the hydrophobicity of nanofibers, and oleophilicity toward oil during oil-water separation experiments [2,5,[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15].…”

“…The activated charcoal molecules exhibit functional groups like C=O, -CO 3 , O-H, and C-O which imparts polarity unto it, and the effect of these polar charges probably becomes more pronounced when the activated charcoal molecules try to organize themselves in the polymer during fiber formation (stretching of polymer chains) in electrospinning process [2,5,[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15], thereby helping improving the water repellency characteristics. Since the electrospinning process parameters are constant, the activated charcoal molecules at 1.5% loading get probably less space to relax and re-organize during fiber formation, as compared to PC + AC(0.5%), and PC + AC(1%) microfibers.…”

“…Since the electrospinning process parameters are constant, the activated charcoal molecules at 1.5% loading get probably less space to relax and re-organize during fiber formation, as compared to PC + AC(0.5%), and PC + AC(1%) microfibers. Thus, the collective effect of these parameters tends in improving the hydrophobic property, and decreasing the fiber diameter in PC + AC(1.5%) microfibers [2,5,[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15].…”

“…However, these conventional techniques possess limitations like poor separation performance over the long period, high operation costs, and the resultant pollution [5,6,8]. Recently, scientific community has been exploring new methods based on oil/ solvent-water absorption, and separation, which utilize nano-functional materials [2,5,[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. In this sense, more recently, materials exhibiting simultaneous oleophilicity-hydrophobicity (absorption tendency toward oil/ solvents and repulsion toward water) have fascinated the researchers, which demonstrate greater selectivity and separation productivity [2,10,12,16].…”

Effect of Swelling of Chemical Reagents and the Sulfuric-Chromic Acid Bath on Surface Texturizing of Poly(Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene)

“…34 There are some works that, as an alternative to swelling, use voids on the surface to trap water and cause an effect of hydrophilicity and self-cleaning by a direct contact of external drops with the water already on the surface. 35 There are works related to the deposition of some layers on a swelling polymer that leads to the formation of uniform wrinkles after the release of polymer strain because of isotropic polymer elongation. Particularly, conductive silver wrinkles have been grown on an elastomer by combining polymer swelling with electroless deposition for ultrasensitive pressure sensors.…”