One‐Step Fabrication of Superhydrophobic/Superoleophilic Electrodeposited Polythiophene for Oil and Water Separation

Abstract

A facile, one‐step, and single‐component fabrication of superhydrophobic and superoleophilic coating by electropolymerization of polythiophene on a stainless steel mesh is presented. The resulting coating has low surface energy and shows surface morphology bearing both micro‐ and nano‐features without the need to add nanofillers, or pretreatment of the substrate to make it rough. The polythiophene coating also shows reversible wetting property (superhydrophobic to superhydrophilic, and vice versa) by electrochemical doping and dedoping. The coated mesh is shown to repel water of different pH (1, 7, and 14) and salt content. On the other hand, oil such as dichloromethane, gasoline, kerosene, dodecane, and crude oil can easily pass through the mesh. Therefore, the coated mesh is an excellent material for the separation of oil and water.

Dual-responsive shape memory polymer arrays with smart and precise multiple-wetting controllability

“…The smart control of water wetting performances on solid surfaces has been extensively explored because of its potential for application in many fields [1][2][3][4][5], such as controllable cell and protein adhesion [6][7][8], smart droplet manipulation in microfluidics [9,10], selective oil/water separation [11][12][13], and accurate drug delivery [14]. Stimulus-responsive strategies have been widely accepted as a useful way to achieve reversible wetting control, and the most common examples are rough structures modified with stimulus-responsive molecules, such as temperatureresponsive polymer poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) [15], pH-responsive carboxylic acids [16,17], and other materials with responsivity to ions [18,19], gas [20][21][22], electrons [23][24][25], light [26][27][28], magnetic fields [29,30], and other stimuli.…”

Nucleobase-Functionalized Poly(alkylthiophene)s: One-Pot, Sequential Direct Arylation Polymerization and Deprotection, and Surface Modification for Oil–Water Separations

“…5−7 For example, Advincula et al electropolymerized a terthiophene monomer around a stainless steel mesh to fabricate a superhydrophobic coating capable of oil−water separation. 7 In another study, Xu et al used physical absorption promoted by a nonsolvent treatment to modify the surface of a commercially available filter paper with oxidatively synthesized poly(p-phenylene), thereby achieving a superhydrophobic microstructure with the ability to separate oil from water. 6 Zhou and co-workers described the deposition of polyaniline to cover cotton fibers, imbuing them with oil−water separation behaviors.…”

Fluorine‐Free Superhydrophobic Coatings: Rapid Fabrication and Highly Efficient Oil/Water Separation

“…[ 2 ] The extensive amount of petrochemicals used in our daily life goes much beyond transportation, as they are also used in many chemical industries for a number of applications, from plastics to asphalt. [ 3–5 ] During drilling and production operations, as well as during the transportation of petroleum and its derivatives, different factors can lead to the occurrence of catastrophic spills, such as mishandling, leakage, explosion and other accidents. Regardless of the cause, oil spills can have enormous environmental, economic and social effects.…”

“…[ 9 ] Particularly, the Advincula group has reported multifunctional fluorine‐free superhydrophobic coatings based on different chemistries, including rubber‐modified polybenzoxazine, [ 12 ] poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide), [ 22 ] polystyrene/multiwalled carbon nanotubes, [ 23 ] and electrodeposited polythiopenes. [ 4,24–27 ]…”