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Facile fabrication of fluorine free zirconium zinc stearate based superhydrophobic and superoleophilic coating on cotton fabric with superior antibacterial property

  • Original Paper: Sol-gel and hybrid materials with surface modification for applications
  • Published:
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Abstract

A simple solution technique has been adopted to fabricate in situ generated zirconium zinc stearate based superhydrophobic and superoleophilic fluorine-free coating on cotton fabric with superior antibacterial and excellent photocatalytic properties. The materials properties of the specimen such as crystallinity/crystal phase, chemical bonding, surface morphology, and surface roughness have been characterized systematically. The coated cotton derived from an optimized precursor composition shows the retention of superhydrophobicity with static water contact angle ~163° after several cycles of machine laundering and mechanical abrasion. It is seen that zirconium species may have caused an enhancement in laundering durability and mechanical robustness while hierarchical morphology of zinc stearate is responsible for acquiring superior antibacterial property along with self cleaning ability of the coating to make the coated fabric promising for real life application such as military uniform, biomedical clothing/devices. In addition, the coated cotton is found to be suitable for separation of oil from oil-water mixtures with high efficiency (~99%) even after 10 cycles of repeated use. Thus, the material can be used for separation of oil from oil-contaminated industrial wastewater/marine water. Moreover, AgBr modified superhydrophobic cotton fabric shows excellent photocatalytic activity towards degradation of organic dye. This facile process can be up-scaled for commercial use.

Highlights

  • In-situ fabricated superhydrophobic zirconium zinc stearate coated cotton fabric.

  • Zirconium enhances laundering, mechanical and chemical stabilities of coating.

  • Coated cotton (CC) shows excellent antibacterial activity.

  • CC also shows excellent superoleophilic property for oil water separation.

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Acknowledgements

One of the authors, MS thankfully acknowledges Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India for providing her Ph.D. research fellowship under DST-Inspire scheme. The authors also acknowledge the help rendered by Electron Microscopy Section for several materials characterizations. The work has been done as an associated research work of a sponsored project (No. GAP0624).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Specialty Glass and Technology Division, CSIR-Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute (CSIR-CGCRI), 196 Raja S.C. Mullick Road, Jadavpur, Kolkata, 700032, India

    Malobi Seth, Hasmat Khan & Sunirmal Jana

  2. Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Jadavpur University, 188 Raja S.C. Mullick Road, Jadavpur, Kolkata, 700032, India

    Rudranil Bhowmik & Sanmoy Karmakar

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  1. Malobi Seth
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  2. Hasmat Khan
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Correspondence to Sunirmal Jana.

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Seth, M., Khan, H., Bhowmik, R. et al. Facile fabrication of fluorine free zirconium zinc stearate based superhydrophobic and superoleophilic coating on cotton fabric with superior antibacterial property. J Sol-Gel Sci Technol 94, 127–140 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-019-05079-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-019-05079-z

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