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Composite polydopamine-based TiO2 coated mesh with restorable superhydrophobic surfaces for wastewater treatment

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Abstract

Various pollutants in wastewater including water-insoluble oils and water-soluble toxic organic pollutants, have been threatening ecosystems and human health, making wastewater purification difficult. Inspired by the hierarchical structures and chemical compositions of lotus leaf, we combined the usage of polydopamine (PDA) chemistry and photocatalytically active TiO2 to develop a facile approach toward composite PDA-based TiO2 coated mesh with restorable superhydrophobicity. In this procedure, PDA assisted loading of TiO2 nanoparticles onto stainless steel mesh with a result of micro/nanoscale hierarchical surface was achieved via a single-step solvothermal method. After modified with 1H, 1H, 2H, 2H-perfluorodecyltriethoxysilane, this mesh became superhydrophobic. The TiO2 coated mesh exhibited enhanced superhydrophobicity, excellent environmental stability, robust chemical resistance and high mechanical durability. Moreover, it has been demonstrated the high separation capacity and extraordinary recyclability for various oils collection from water due to its special surface superhydrophobicity. Importantly, such a mesh possessed photocatalytic activity due to the embedded TiO2, which allowed for the effective degradation of organic pollutants under UV irradiation, representing a plausible way to restore superhydrophobic surface by photocatalytically decomposing the attached contaminants. This investigation suggests a green and facile way to prepare superhydrophobic materials with restored surface wetting property, which will be useful for wastewater purification.

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Acknowledgements

We appreciate the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.51473089), the Program for Science & Technology Innovation Team of Shaanxi Province (No.2018TD-030), the Innovation Capability Support Program of Shaanxi (No.2020TD-024), the Scientific Research Program Funded by Shaanxi Provincial Education Department (No.19JK0071) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No.GK202002007, GK201901002) for financial supports. B.P. thanks the financial support from the Academy of Finland (No. 321443 and No. 328942).

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Author notes

  1. Ni Wang and Hao Zhang have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Applied Surface and Colloid Chemistry, Ministry of Education, Shaanxi Key Laboratory for Advanced Energy Devices, Shaanxi Engineering Lab for Advanced Energy Technology, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, 710119, China

    Ni Wang, Songyu Liu & Ziwei Deng

  2. Shaanxi Fashion Engineering University, Xi’an, 712046, China

    Ni Wang

  3. Department of Anesthesiology, Beijing Longfu Hospital, Beijing, 100010, China

    Hao Zhang

  4. Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for The Green Preparation and Application of Functional Material, Hubei University, Wuhan, 430062, China

    Ziwei Deng

  5. Department of Applied Physics, Aalto University, 00076, Espoo, Finland

    Bo Peng

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  1. Ni Wang
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Correspondence to Bo Peng or Ziwei Deng.

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Wang, N., Zhang, H., Liu, S. et al. Composite polydopamine-based TiO2 coated mesh with restorable superhydrophobic surfaces for wastewater treatment. J Mater Sci 56, 7321–7333 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-020-05729-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-020-05729-6

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