Highly durable and sustainable heterogeneous fabric using in-and-out fluorinated urethane coating for elimination of bacteria and oil–water separation

• Published in: npj clean water Vol. 5; no. 1; pp. 1 - 8
• Main Authors: Choi, Moonhyun, Park, Sohyeon, Choi, Woojin, Kim, Youna, Cho, Kyeong Min, Heo, Jiwoong, Kim, Min-Kun, Jung, Heesoo, Jin, Youngho, Lee, Sangmin, Hong, Jinkee
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 23.09.2022; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 639/166/898; 639/301/1023; Activated carbon; Aquatic Pollution; Bacteria; Carbon fibers; Chemical spills; Coating; Coatings; Diisocyanates; Durability; Earth and Environmental Science; Efficiency; Environment; Environmental impact; Ethylene glycol; Fabrics; Fluorination; Fourier transforms; Gram-negative bacteria; Gram-positive bacteria; Hydrogen bonds; Hydrophobicity; Hydroxyl groups; Isocyanates; Membranes; Morphology; Nanotechnology; Oil; Oil spills; Penetration; Perfluoroalkyl & polyfluoroalkyl substances; Polyurethane; Polyurethane resins; Protective coatings; Scratch tests; Separation; Waste Water Technology; Wastewater; Wastewater discharges; Water Industry/Water Technologies; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Water Quality/Water Pollution
• ISSN: 2059-7037; 2059-7037
• DOI: 10.1038/s41545-022-00191-0

To address the poor oil–water separation efficiency and bactericidal properties of existing oil–water separation membranes for the treatment of industrial oily wastewater discharge, this study designed an in-and-out coating material for modifying the inner site and outer surface of porous activated carbon fabric (ACF) using urethane reactions. To this end, fluorinated polyurethane (F-PU) coating materials were synthesized using perfluoroalkyl alcohol, ethylene glycol (EG), and isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI). Subsequently, the inner and outer surface of the ACF were coated with F-PU via the urethane reaction of the hydroxyl groups (–OH) of the surface of ACF and the isocyanates of F-PU. The successfully fabricated in-and-out F-PU-coated heterogeneous fabric exhibited excellent hydrophobic properties, anti-scratch performance, oil–water separation performance, and bacterial penetration blocking efficiency (>99% for gram negative and gram positive bacteria). Furthermore, the in-and-out-coated ACF exhibited high durability, and retained its bacterial penetration blocking performance after scratch tests.