A simple sol–gel method was proposed to fabricate superhydrophobic cotton fabric (S-fabric) with a water contact angle of 155.6°. A co-condensation process between zirconium hydroxide (Zr(OH)₄) and n-dodecyltrimethoxysilane under alkaline condition was presented. The functionalized Zr(OH)₄ NPs with long-chain alkyl groups (–(CH₂)₁₁CH₃) offered both hierarchical roughness and lower surface energy for S-fabric. The functional groups, surface morphology, element distribution, and surface roughness changes were examined by FTIR, SEM, EDS, and 3D optical profiler, respectively. And the results indicated that the cotton fabric was successfully modified. The obtained cotton fabric retained chemical stability after 72 h immersion in different extreme conditions, and mechanical durability after 200 cm of abrasion length. The S-fabric could be applied in the separation of oil–water mixture (n-hexane, n-heptane, n-dodecane, cyclohexane and kerosene) with the high efficiency (> 96%), and the efficiency remained stable after 50 separation cycles (n-dodecane and n-hexane). The facile preparation, chemical and mechanical stability, high separation efficiency, and good reusability of S-fabric indicated the potential practical application value in oil/water separation.

中文翻译：

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正十二烷基三甲氧基硅烷/氯氧化锆处理的超疏水棉织物的制备，可实现高效的油/水分离

提出了一种简单的溶胶-凝胶法来制造水接触角为155.6°的超疏水棉织物（S-fabric）。提出了碱性条件下氢氧化锆（Zr（OH）₄）与正十二烷基三甲氧基硅烷的共缩合过程。具有长链烷基（–（CH ₂）₁₁ CH ₃的功能化Zr（OH）₄ NP）为S织物提供了分层粗糙度和较低的表面能。分别通过FTIR，SEM，EDS和3D光学轮廓仪检查了官能团，表面形态，元素分布和表面粗糙度变化。结果表明，该棉织物已成功改性。所获得的棉织物在不同的极端条件下浸泡72小时后仍保持化学稳定性，而在200 cm的磨损长度后仍保持机械耐久性。在S-织物可以在油-水混合物的分离可以应用（Ñ己烷，Ñ -庚烷，Ñ -dodecane，环己烷和煤油）与高效率（> 96％），和效率后50分离保持稳定周期（正十二烷和n-己烷）。S-fabric的制备简便，化学和机械稳定性，高分离效率和良好的可重复使用性表明其在油/水分离中的潜在实际应用价值。