Superwetting fabrics towards multifunctional applications: Oil/water separation, anti-fouling and flame-retardance

摘要

Superwetting fabrics are promising materials for oil/water separation, but their poor thermal stability, easy to be contaminated and flammability severely restrict their cross-domain applications. Here we report multifunctional Ni(OH)(2)@fabrics with satisfyingly hierarchical structures via a simple hydrothermal method. Besides oil/water separation, Ni(OH)(2) coated fabrics also exhibit exceptional flame-retardancy and good thermal stability. The as-prepared fabrics possess superhydrophilicity/underwater superoleophobicity plus superoleophilicity/underoil superhydrophobicity and therefore could be directly used for oil/water separation containing both water/heavy oil mixture and water/light oil mixture. Moreover, superamphiphilic Ni(OH)(2)@fabric could also transform into in-air superamphiphobic after modification of low surface energy materials. Benefitting from the capacity of trapping liquids or air of synthesized hierarchical structures, superamphiphilic fabric presents underwater anti-oil impact performance while superamphiphobic fabric shows excellent in-air antifouling property. These multifunctional fabrics could greatly widen the application conditions of superwetting materials for oil/water separation and show huge potentials in cross-domain industrials.