Synthesis and Hydrodynamic Modeling Study of Epoxy/Carbon Nanospheres (Epoxy-CNS) Composite Coatings for Water Filtration Applications

Abstract

Coatings for filtration applications based on epoxy resin mixtures with isopropanol were synthesized using the dip-coating technique. The nanomaterials used were carbon nanospheres (CNS) synthesized by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and commercially obtained Vulcan XC-72 (VC). The permeation flux and permeability of the coatings were determined by vacuum filtration of pure water applying different working pressures obtaining maximum values of 0.5555 cm3/s and 1.19 × 10−9 m2, respectively, for the CNS6 coating at 26,664 Pa. The minimum values obtained for the permeation flux and permeability were 0.0011 cm3/s and 1.21 × 10−11 m2, for the coating CNS3 at 39,996 Pa. This study analyzed the effect of nanomaterials and the addition of isopropanol at different volumes on the permeability of the coatings. The results show that the permeability was influenced by the number of pores present rather than by their diameter. The number of pores were obtained between the ranges 1–12 μm for all the coatings. The study of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) through a free and porous medium, showed that it is possible to accurately determine flow velocities (m/s) through and inside the composite coatings. Understanding the flow behavior is a practical strategy to predict the performance of new nanocomposite coatings.

Sorbitol‐based epoxy anti‐smudge coatings with liquid repellency for various applications

“…45,46 Epoxy resin has established a good position in the commercial market and is widely used in the field of adhesives and coatings. [47][48][49][50][51] However, their use has brought many negative effects to our environment, because 70% of these epoxy resins are from the toxic petroleum based bisphenol A precursors. At present, diglycidyl ether of Bisphenol A (DGEBA) is the most used epoxy resin, which accounts for more than 70% of commercial epoxy resin.…”

“…Epoxy resin has established a good position in the commercial market and is widely used in the field of adhesives and coatings 47–51 . However, their use has brought many negative effects to our environment, because 70% of these epoxy resins are from the toxic petroleum based bisphenol A precursors.…”