Two-Step Approach for Fabrication of Durable Superamphiphobic Fabrics for Self-Cleaning, Antifouling, and On-Demand Oil/Water Separation

Superamphiphobic materials have attracted lots of attention due to its wide applications in many fields. However, the preparation of most superamphiphobic materials was time-consuming and complicated. In this study, a durable superamphiphobic fabric was prepared by vapor–liquid sol–gel method to deposit silica with thiol (SiO2–SH) and thiol–ene click reaction to graft 1H,1H,2H,2H-heptadecafluorodecyl methacrylate (FMA). The superamphiphobic fabric can repel liquids with surface tension as low as 27.5 mN m–1. Importantly, the fabric can maintain high amphiphobicity after 15 laundry cycles, 40 tape-peeling cycles, 160 g of sand abrasion, 24 h UV irradiation, as well as immersion in acid/base solution for 12 h, 95 °C water for 6 h or 2 °C water for 24 h. What’s more, the fabric shows excellent self-cleaning and antifouling properties. After the superamphiphobic fabric was prewetted by ethanol, it shows superhydrophilicity/underwater superoleophobicity and superoleophilicity/underoil superhydrophobicity, which can be used for on-demand oil/water separation with high separation efficiency and outstanding reusability.