Twofold bioinspiration of TiO₂-PDA hybrid fabrics with desirable robustness and remarkable polar/nonpolar liquid separation performance

Abstract

The fundamental relationship between microstructure, constituent, processing and performances of separating materials is really a vital issue. Traditional preparation methods for separation membranes are complex, time-consuming and easy to be fouled. Also, the durability of conventional coatings on membrane is poor. By combination of bioinspiration from mussel adhesive and fish scales’ underwater superoleophobicity, we propose a general route to prepare organic–inorganic hybrid coatings, while no complex apparatus is needed. Specifically, based on the biomimetic adhesion of polydopamine (PDA), we used it as a binder to adhere TiO₂ nanoparticles and built rough microstructure on fabric. In this way, we obtained TiO₂-PDA treated fabric with special wettability. These TiO₂-PDA treated samples owned superamphiphilicity in air, underwater superoleophobicity (underwater oil contact angles (OCAs)>150°), underoil superhydrophobicity (underoil water contact angles (WCAs)>150°), excellent multi-resistance; and can separate polar/nonpolar liquid mixture effectively. It also owned superaerophobicity underwater (underwater bubble contact angles (BCAs)>150°). The proposed TiO₂-PDA coatings are highly expected to be employed for real situation of water pollution remediation, self-cleaning, oil extraction and harsh chemical engineering issues.

Keywords

polydopamine / TiO₂-PDA fabric / polar/nonpolar separation / underwater superoleophobicity / superamphiphilicity

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Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51705138).

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