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Toward efficient water/oil separation material: Effect of copolymer composition on pH‐responsive wettability and separation performance
Author(s) -
Zhou YinNing,
Li JinJin,
Luo ZhengHong
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
aiche journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.958
H-Index - 167
eISSN - 1547-5905
pISSN - 0001-1541
DOI - 10.1002/aic.15145
Subject(s) - wetting , copolymer , acrylic acid , superhydrophilicity , materials science , chemical engineering , contact angle , methacrylate , polymer chemistry , polymer , composite material , engineering
Interest in functional soft matter with stimuli‐responsive wettability has increasingly intensified in recent years. From the chemical product engineering viewpoint, this study aims to fabricate reversible pH‐responsive polymeric surfaces with controllable wettability using [poly(2,2,3,4,4,4‐hexafluorobutyl methacrylate)‐block‐ poly(acrylic acid) (PHFBMA‐b‐PAA)] block copolymers. To attain this aim, three block copolymers with different PAA segment lengths were synthesized for the first time through Cu(0)‐mediated reversible‐deactivation radical polymerization and hydrolysis reaction. pH‐induced controllable wettability was achieved by spin‐coating the resulting block copolymers onto silicon wafers. Results showed that the pH‐responsive wetting behavior was introduced by incorporating the PAA block, and that the responsiveness of as‐fabricated surfaces was greatly influenced by PAA content. All three evolutions of water contact angle with pH shared a similar inflection point at pH 5.25. Furthermore, on the basis of the wetting properties and mechanism understanding, the application of copolymer coated meshes in layered water/oil separation was exploited. Given their superhydrophilicity and underwater superoleophobicity, PHFBMA 70 ‐b‐PAA 148 and PHFBMA 70 ‐b‐PAA 211 coated stainless steel meshes (SSMs) can efficiently separate water from different mixtures of organic solvent and water with high flux. However, considering long‐term use, the PHFBMA 70 ‐b‐PAA 148 coated SSM with good stability may be the best copolymer for water/oil separation. Therefore, a coordination of structure, composition, and functionality was necessary to enable practical applications of the functional materials. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J , 62: 1758–1771, 2016