Construction of functionalized superhydrophobic cotton fabrics with self-cleaning, oil-water separation and photocatalytic degradation abilities

With the rapid development of industry and the increasing discharge of oily wastewater, there is a growing interest in superhydrophobic materials for oil-water separation and water pollution remediation. At the same time, there is an urgent need for materials capable of oil-water separation and wastewater degradation. In this paper, superhydrophobic photocatalytic cotton fabrics were prepared by introducing zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) on pristine fabrics (PF) to obtain a micro/nano-rough structure, octadecylamine (ODA) to provide a low surface energy, and epoxy resin (ER) used as an adhesive to enhance the adhesion between the ZnO NPs and the fabric. The prepared ODA-ZnO-ER@PF has excellent superhydrophobicity with a water contact angle (WCA) of 156.5° and self-cleaning ability. Due to its good photocatalytic properties, it can basically degrade methylene blue (MB) and rhodamine B (RB) in water after 12 h of UV irradiation. In addition, ODA-ZnO-ER@PF has excellent mechanical properties and maintains good superhydrophobicity after mechanical abrasion, ultrasonic washing, tape-peeling, UV irradiation and acid or alkali immersion. Gravity-driven oil-water separation simulation experiments indicated that ODA-ZnO-ER@PF has good oil-water separation efficiency and recyclability. This superhydrophobic, photocatalytic and mechanically durable material shows promising applications in the treatment of oil-water pollutants.