Superhydrophobic UHMWPE Foams with High Mechanical Robustness and Durability Fabricated by Supercritical CO2 Foaming,ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering

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Superhydrophobic UHMWPE Foams with High Mechanical Robustness and Durability Fabricated by Supercritical CO2 Foaming
ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering ( IF 7.1 ) Pub Date : 2021-09-07 , DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.1c04573
Binbin Sun ₁ , Jun Li ₁ , Yahao Guo ₁ , Heng Li ₂ , Hao-Yang Mi ₁ , Binbin Dong ₁ , Chuntai Liu ₁ , Changyu Shen ₁

Affiliation

The low durability and stability of superhydrophobic foams and high fabrication costs are the main reasons that limit their practical applications in water remediation and oil recycling. Herein, an extremely superhydrophobic and exceptionally robust foam was developed based on ultrahigh-molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) by supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO₂) foaming and subsequent surface modification. The developed foam comprises a highly porous structure decorated with hydrophobic silica nanoparticles and aligned UHMWPE crystallites, constructing a complex micro–nanosized hierarchical morphology, which contributed to an unprecedented water contact angle (WCA) of 162° and a sliding angle of 1°. When used in selective oil absorption and oil/water separation, the foam demonstrated about 100% separation efficiency in repetitive use and even under a vacuum of −70 Kpa due to its high water repellency. More importantly, the foam has outstanding tolerance against mechanical damages such as ultrasonication, bending and twisting, tape peeling, steel wool abrasion, and knife scratching. The surface could maintain the hierarchical structure and a WCA of over 156° after enduring different damages. Moreover, when the surface is clogged, the foam could restore its superhydrophobicity by arbitrary fracturing and cutting, resulting in a theoretically unlimited lifespan. This work not only proposes a UHMWPE-based superhydrophobic foam with extremely high superhydrophobicity, durability, and separation efficiency but also provides insights into the design and mass production of ultraefficient and robust superhydrophobic porous materials for practical applications.

中文翻译：

超临界 CO2 发泡制备的具有高机械强度和耐久性的超疏水 UHMWPE 泡沫

超疏水泡沫的耐久性和稳定性低以及制造成本高是限制其在水修复和油回收中实际应用的主要原因。在此，基于超高分子量聚乙烯 (UHMWPE) 通过超临界二氧化碳 (scCO ₂) 发泡和随后的表面改性。所开发的泡沫包含装饰有疏水二氧化硅纳米粒子和对齐的 UHMWPE 微晶的高度多孔结构，构建了复杂的微纳米级分层形态，这有助于实现前所未有的 162° 水接触角 (WCA) 和 1° 滑动角。当用于选择性吸油和油/水分离时，由于其高拒水性，该泡沫在重复使用甚至-70 Kpa的真空下表现出约100%的分离效率。更重要的是，泡沫对机械损伤具有出色的耐受性，例如超声波处理、弯曲和扭曲、胶带剥离、钢丝绒磨损和刀划伤。表面在经受不同的破坏后仍能保持层次结构和超过156°的WCA。而且，当表面被堵塞时，泡沫可以通过任意压裂和切割来恢复其超疏水性，从而导致理论上无限的使用寿命。这项工作不仅提出了一种具有极高超疏水性、耐久性和分离效率的基于 UHMWPE 的超疏水泡沫，而且还为实际应用中超高效、坚固的超疏水多孔材料的设计和批量生产提供了见解。

更新日期：2021-09-20

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