Abstract
Cost-effective separation of oil and immiscible organic contaminants from water has become an urgent challenge to protect aquatic and human life from devastating effects. Therefore, it has become imperative to develop super-selective materials for efficiently separating oil from water. In this work, a superhydrophobic surface has been formed that consists of a silane@polystyrene-coated polypropylene fibrous network (silane@PS-PPF) for efficient separation of accidentally spilled oil from water. The superhydrophobic PPFs were designed by a simple, cost-effective two-step process that includes photochemically controlled polymerization of styrene and subsequent dip coating in octadecyltrichlorosilane solution. The hydrophobic surface (CA=129 degrees +/- 4 degrees) of the PS coated PPF after treating with silane was turned into a superhydrophobic body (CA=161 degrees +/- 2 degrees). The achieved silane@PS-PPF fibrous network selectively allowed the fast permeation of the oils and non-polar organic liquids by altogether rejecting water during operation. The separation efficiency for various oils from the contaminated water was 96 to 99%, with a high flux in the range of 7606 +/- 312 L m(-2)h(-1) to 9870 +/- 151 L m(-2)h(-1). Apart from being used as a filter, the silane@PS-PPF was also used as an oil absorber and has shown an absorption capacity in the range of 1185 to 1535% for various oils. We anticipate that the developed silane@PS-PPF, due to its facile synthetic route, cost-effectiveness, and high performance, can be effectively used in oily wastewater treatment and clean-up of large oil spills from water.