Initiator‐Free Natural Light‐Driven Vapor Phase Synthesis of a Porous Network of 3D Polystyrene Branched Carbon Nanofiber Grafted Polyurethane for Hexane /Water Separation

Abstract

A unique approach of vapor phase polymerization is introduced to synthesize a 3D porous network of polystyrene branched carbon nanofiber on polyurethane (CNF/PS) using natural light (NL) initiation. The introduced natural light vapor phase polymerization of the styrene in the confined reactor containing CNF grafted PU offers a porous network with substantial stability. The natural light in a confined reactor performed two major functions. Its first role was to vaporize the styrene by increasing the reactor temperature and, in the second step, it generated styrene radicals. The radical styrene in vapor phase reacted with CNF to produce polystyrene branches by generating active sites on CNF. Without CNF, the polymerization on polyurethane (PU) provided a very delicate and fragile surface; however, CNF reinforced the 3D porous structure and provided active sites for radical polymerization. After polymerization, the surface area of the PU was substantially increased from 9 to 184 m2/g and the pore size was decreased from 2567 to 10 Å. The 3D porous network of natural light assisted polystyrene branched carbon nanofiber supported PU (3D‐NL‐PS/CNF/PU) provided a highly hydrophobic surface with a high water contact angle of ≈148±3°. The prepared 3D network was found to be highly oleophilic and provided rapid gravity driven separation of hexane and water without using any external force.

Superhydrophobic Polypropylene Functionalized with Nanoparticles for Efficient Fast Static and Dynamic Separation of Spilled Oil from Water

“…The surfaces of various support materials such as foam/sponges, meshes, cotton, nonwoven fabrics, and woven fabrics are being exploited to develop superhydrophobic surfaces for effective oil and water separation. The range of material used to develop hydrophobic surfaces includes graphene, carbon nanofiber, nanodiamonds, metal nanoparticles, metal oxide nanoparticles, silica nanoparticles, and polymers .…”

Photochemically Produced Superhydrophobic Silane@polystyrene‐Coated Polypropylene Fibrous Network for Oil/Water Separation

“…Moreover, in the PS‐PP spectrum, a new absorption band appeared due to the aromatic ‐C=C‐ vibrations. The presence of absorptions bands related to the aromatic ring in the PS‐PPF spectrum has established PS′s successful coating on the PPFs (Figure 4B) [35] . In the FTIR spectrum of silane@PS‐PPF, a broad and sharp absorption band with the shoulder appeared in the range of 974 cm −1 to 1157 cm −1 .…”

A flexible biomimetic superhydrophobic and superoleophilic 3D macroporous polymer-based robust network for the efficient separation of oil-contaminated water

“…The -C-H symmetric and asymmetric stretching vibrations were observed in the range of 2800 to 3000 cm À1 . 21 A sharp absorption band that appeared in the non-functionalized polyurethane at 1094 cm À1 was assigned to -C-O-Cstretching ( Fig. 1A).…”