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Fabrication of Photocontrolled Surfaces for Oil/Water Separation through Sulfur(VI) Fluoride Exchange
Author(s) -
Zhu Haiguang,
Chen Dongyun,
Li Najun,
Xu Qingfeng,
Li Hua,
He Jinghui,
Wang Hua,
Wu Peng,
Lu Jianmei
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
chemistry – a european journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.687
H-Index - 242
eISSN - 1521-3765
pISSN - 0947-6539
DOI - 10.1002/chem.201703309
Subject(s) - wetting , fluoride , sulfur , contact angle , chemical engineering , fabrication , materials science , membrane , ultraviolet , environmental remediation , chemistry , organic chemistry , inorganic chemistry , contamination , composite material , optoelectronics , medicine , ecology , biochemistry , alternative medicine , pathology , engineering , biology
Smart surfaces with controllable wettability have attracted substantial interest owing to the potential use of these materials for the separation of oil from oily water caused by frequent oil‐spill accidents. Because there are few separation materials on the market that are capable of switching between hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity, this work reports an efficient and low‐cost method to fabricate a photoresponsive membrane through the sulfur(VI) fluoride exchange reaction (SuFEx) between poly(4‐vinylphenol sulfofluoridate) and ( E )‐1‐(4‐( tert ‐butoxy)phenyl)‐2‐(4‐(trifluoromethoxy)phenyl)diazene. The resulting material displays switchable wettability between hydrophobic and hydrophilic states when subjected to ultraviolet or visible irradiation. This membrane can be recycled (greater than five times) and features superior efficiency (up to 97.9 %) for the separation of oils that have both higher and lower densities than water. This work is the first proof‐of‐concept application of SuFEx to fabricate functional materials for environmental remediation.