Covalent organic polymer nanosheets
(COPNs) endowed with porous
networks and large surface areas in their structures offer great advantages
over other materials in addressing environmental problems. In this
study, fluorine-free superhydrophobic COPNs were designed and applied
to selective dye absorption. Notably, COPNs selectively adsorb dyes
with a high hydrophobic index (HI) and reject low HI dyes with maximum
adsorption capacities of 361 and 263 mg/g for crystal violet and methylene
blue, respectively. The adsorption isotherm model showed that the
COPNs follow the Langmuir adsorption isotherm model and pseudo-second-order
kinetics. Next, we explored the superhydrophobicity of the COPNs by
in situ fabrication with melamine sponge (COPNs–MS), which
incorporates the superhydrophobicity of COPNs [water contact angle
(WCA) of >150°] with the structure and flexibility of the
MS
skeleton. The COPNs–MS shows various oil-adsorbing properties
with good adsorption capacity (from 60 to 120 g/g) and also effectively
separates various surfactant-stabilized emulsions with a separation
efficiency of over 99%. The as-fabricated COPNs–MS retains
its superhydrophobicity in various solvents and hazardous conditions
(WCA ≥ 150°) and exhibits good flame retardancy and excellent
compression properties with excellent antifouling property due to
the superhydrophobic COPN coating. Furthermore, COPNs–MS also
demonstrates excellent recyclability because the strong COPN coating
in the MS skeleton retains its hydrophobicity. Therefore, our fluorine-free
superhydrophobic COPNs are not only capable of selective dye adsorption
but also exhibit very good oil adsorption and surfactant-stabilized
emulsion separation performance.
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