Facile preparation of cotton fabric modified with iron oxide nanoparticles with durable superhydrophobicity for oil/water separation

A superhydrophobic cotton fabric coated with ferric oxide (Fe2O3) nanostructures and low-surface-energy polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) was fabricated using facile solution immersion processes for oil/water separation. The superhydrophobic Fe2O3@PDMS cotton fabric displayed remarkable self-cleaning property. Especially, outstanding mechanical stability was indicated after the fabric was endured with sandpaper abrasion for 100 cycles, laundering test for 180 min, and ultrasonic treatment for 60 min. Moreover, the as-prepared fabric delivered excellent chemical stability when exposed to corrosive liquids for 6 h and ultraviolet light for 72 h. More importantly, several types of oil/water mixtures were selected to realize gravity-driven separation and the fabric with special wettability showed high separation efficiency (>98.6%) and permeation flux higher than 68,788 L m−2 h−1. The good recycling performance was further demonstrated after 50 separation cycles. The fabric also achieved continuous separation of oil/water mixtures. Therefore, we envision that the developed cotton fabric with robust and durable superhydrophobicity holds limitless promise for practical oil/water separation.