Zirconia based superhydrophobic coatings on cotton fabrics exhibiting excellent durability for versatile use.

ABSTRACT: A fluorinated silyl functionalized zirconia was synthesized by the sol-gel method to fabricate an extremely durable superhydrophobic coating on cotton fabrics by simple immersion technique. The fabric surfaces firmly attached with the coating material through covalent bonding, possessed superhydrophobicity with high water contact angle ≈163 ± 1°, low hysteresis ≈3.5° and superoleophilicity. The coated fabrics were effective to separate oil/water mixture with a considerably high separation efficiency of 98.8 wt% through ordinary filtering. Presence of highly stable (chemically and mechanically) superhydrophobic zirconia bonded with cellulose makes such excellent water repelling ability of the fabrics durable under harsh environment conditions like high temperature, strong acidic or alkaline

SUBMITTER: Das I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4683463 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature