Fabrics coated with hot-iron-treated graphene oxide for a self-cleaning and mechanically robust water–oil separation material

Abstract

A simple method was reported to fabricate self-cleaning and water–oil separation fabrics sprayed with hot-iron-treated graphene oxide (GO). The GO solution was prepared with a modified Hummers' method and coated on the fabrics by spraying or soaking method. A 160 °C hot iron was pressed at the surface of the fabrics to make it flat, dry, thermally reduced in part, and strongly bonded. Afterward, the fabrics were thermally reduced at 250 °C for 20 minutes in an oven. The reduced graphene oxide (rGO) coated fabrics exhibited a superhydrophobic nature with a water contact angle of 129.4°, through which water could barely permeate the fabrics, in contrast to oil and organic solvents of low polarity. Additionally, this rGO fabric presented outstanding mechanical properties as well as a reusable stability.