Superwettable antibacterial textiles for versatile oil/water separation

Abstract

A gas-phase deposition process based on the combination of nanoparticles (NPs) and thin films is developed to obtain either superhydrophobic or superamphiphilic nanocomposite coatings on filtration membranes. Superhydrophobic membranes are produced on nonwoven viscose fabric and they demonstrate selective absorption of nonpolar organic solvents from oil/water mixtures. Superamphiphilic membranes are produced on carbon cloth and found suitable for smart separation of light oil or heavy oil from water, with the efficiency above 99.97%. Incorporation of Cu NPs endow both types of the membranes with antibacterial properties. A twofold reduction in the metabolic activity of Escherichia coli is achieved after 24 hr of the incubation, which proves this environmentally friendly approach to be perspective for the development of multifunctional porous K E Y W O R D S antibacterial properties, nanocomposite coatings, oil/water separation, selective absorption, superhydrophobicity, underwater superoleophobicity Plasma Process Polym. 2019;16:e1900003 www.plasma-polymers.com

Fabrication of Plasmonic Indium Tin Oxide Nanoparticles by Means of a Gas Aggregation Cluster Source

“…Another prominent parameter extracted from the statistical analysis of the TEM images was the flux (Φ) of the NPs to the substrate. Using the simple equation Φ = N total /( S·t ), where N total is the total number of NPs per area S (μm 2 ) deposited for a period of time t (min), the resulting flux of ITO NPs is of 552 NPs/(μm 2 ·min), which is comparable to the flux of Cu NPs previously deposited by GAS . Considering the linear relationship of the relative deposition rate with I d (see Figure ), the obtained Φ value can be used to estimate the NP fluxes for other discharge current values (but only for a constant pressure of 113 Pa) in case it is needed for a specific application.…”

Recent advances of textile sorbents for oil spills cleanup: A review

“…170 To solve this problem, many studies have focused on providing superhydrophobic structures into nonwovens surfaces because superhydrophobic surfaces have a great repulsive force to water, resulting in enhancing the capacity of nonwoven sorbents for oil cleanup at a 162 large extent. 79,171 In addition, nonwoven materials are cost-effective, high productivity, and have outstanding physical and mechanical properties which enable the fabrication of products with unique properties for multiple applications. 172 Ortega et al, 173 fabricated highly capable nylon nonwoven sorbent for oil-water separation via the spunbond method.…”

Plasma-controlled surface wettability: recent advances and future applications

“…As an example, Vaidulych and co-authors [225] reported a multi-layer superhydrophobic nanocomposite coating (WCA = 162° in the Cassie–Baxter state) on nonwoven viscose fabric which was achieved by plasma polymerization (PECVD) using HMDSO as precursor combined with a GAS for producing nanoparticles. The prepared materials showed excellent selective absorption of oil from the oil–water mixture (Figure 16(a)) [225]. In the study, the HMDSO plasma thin film was used to provide hydrophobic functional groups while the embedded Cu nanoparticles were intended to enhance surface roughness.…”