Superhydrophobic cotton textile with robust composite film and flame retardancy

Abstract

In the experiments described in the following manuscript, we report a covalent deposition method to prepare a zinc oxide film on a cotton surface. After grafting with (heptadecafluoro-1,1,2,2-tetradecyl)trimethoxysilane, the wetting property of the fabric sample transformed from superhydrophilic to superhydrophobic with a WCA of 158 ± 1°. Moreover, polystyrene was introduced to enhance the mechanical and chemical stabilities of this superhydrophobic cotton fabric. The geometric microstructure of the cotton sample before and after treatment was characterized by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The elemental composition of the film on the cotton textile was determined by using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and the diverse performances of the sample have been evaluated as well. The results exhibited the outstanding superhydrophobicity, waterproofing durability and flame retardancy of the cotton fabric after treatment, offering an opportunity to accelerate the large-scale production of superhydrophobic textiles materials for new industrial applications, such as water/organic solvent separation.