Modified cotton fabric based on thiolene click reaction and its oil/water separation application

ABSTRACT

A cotton fabric with special wettability was prepared in two simple steps. The surface of the fabric was grafted with silicon-oxygen group using 3-(methacryloyloxy) propyl trimethoxysilane (MSPMA) as the reagent, and then (3-mercaptopropyl)triethoxysilane (MPTES) was used to react with the grafted fabric under ultraviolet light according to the principle of thiolene reaction. Meanwhile, the modified cotton fabrics with various pore sizes were obtained via modifying the cotton fabric with different pore size under the same experimental conditions. The as-prepared fabric had a better hydrophobic and lipophilic effect, whose water contact angle could be up to 146.7° and the separation efficiency for different kinds of oil/water mixtures was better than 94%. In addition, the pore sizes of cotton fabrics had a great effect on the rate of oil/water separation, which increased with the increase of the pore size.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Cotton fabric
• fabric modification
• natural fibre
• environment
• surface modification

Data availability

The data used to support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 51703130), and the International Science and Technology Cooperation Project of Shaoxing University (grant number 2019LGGH1004).