Study On Synthesis And Properties Of Environmentally Responsive Random Copolymer For Oil-water Separation

Owing to the growing industrial wastewater accompanying the development of industry and society,there is an increasing demand for functional materials that can effectively separate oil and water.Because the main point of oil/water separation is an interfacial challenge,designing novel materials with special surface wettability is an effective and facile way to realize oil/water separation by either filtration or absorption of oils or water from mixtures selectively.Up to now,various approaches have been developed to construct materials with special surface wettability,including photolithography,electrodeposition,colloidal assembly,chemical vapor deposition,electrospinning.However,although significant progresses have been reported on the surface wetting behavior,these achievements have some disadvantages,such as complicated and time-consuming preparation and high costs for reagents and devices,which restrict the practical and commercial applications.Moreover,these materials do not possess the switchable wettability between superhydrophobicity and superhydrophilicity.The development of stimuli-responsive materials with the ability of controllable oil/water separation is crucial for practical applications.Here,a novel pH responsive nonfluorine-containing copolymer was designed.The copolymer together with silica can be dipcoated on different materials including cotton fabric,filter paper,and polyurethane foam.The coated materials exhibit switchable superhydrophilicity and superhydrophobicity and can be applied in continuous separation of oil/water/oil three phase mixtures,different surfactant stabilized emulsion(water-in-oil,oil-in-water,and oil-in-acidic water)as well as oil uptake and release via in situ and ex situ pH change.We expect that the coatings highlight the practical applications because of the costeffective preparation process and fluorine-free strategy.