Smart Cotton Fabric with CO₂-Responsive Wettability for Controlled Oil/Water Separation

Abstract

Stimuli-responsive materials with switchable wettability have promising practical applications in oil/water separation. A novel CO₂-responsive cotton fabric for controlled oil/water separation was fabricated based on mussel-inspired reaction and polymerized with 2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA). As expected, the modified fabric exhibited switchable hydrophilicity and hydrophobicity after CO₂/N₂ alternation, and it could be used for gravity-driven CO₂-controlled oil/water separation. Water was selectively penetrated through the fabric and separated from oil after treating by CO₂. A reversed wettability could be generated through simply treated with N₂. It is expected that the as-prepared fabrics could be applied in smart oil/water separation due to the attractive properties of CO₂-switchable system.