Superwettable antibacterial textiles for versatile oil/water separation

摘要

A gas-phase deposition process based on the combination of nanoparticles (NPs) and thin films is developed to obtain either superhydrophobic or superamphiphilic nanocomposite coatings on filtration membranes. Superhydrophobic membranes are produced on nonwoven viscose fabric and they demonstrate selective absorption of nonpolar organic solvents from oil/water mixtures. Superamphiphilic membranes are produced on carbon cloth and found suitable for smart separation of light oil or heavy oil from water, with the efficiency above 99.97%. Incorporation of Cu NPs endow both types of the membranes with antibacterial properties. A twofold reduction in the metabolic activity of Escherichia coli is achieved after 24hr of the incubation, which proves this environmentally friendly approach to be perspective for the development of multifunctional porous substrates.[GRAPHICS].