Superhydrophilic
and Underwater Superoleophobic Poly(sulfobetaine methacrylate)-Grafted
Glass Fiber Filters for Oil–Water Separation
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Abstract
Oil–water
separation is a major problem in industries such as oil production
and wastewater treatment, where millions of gallons of oil-contaminated
water are produced. Zwitterionic poly(sulfobetaine methacrylate) (pSBMA)
is a superhydrophilic polymer due to its strong interaction with water
via electrostatic interactions. By coating surfaces of filter media
with such a superhydrophilic polymer, it is expected that one can
effectively separate oil and water. In this work, pSBMA was grafted
onto glass fiber surfaces using surface-initiated atom transfer radical
polymerization (SI-ATRP). The in-air water contact angle of the pSBMA-treated
glass was 8–15°, as compared to 31° for the control
untreated glass, whereas the underwater-oil contact angle of the pSBMA-grafted
glass was 162–169°, as compared to 142° for the control
pristine glass, suggesting that the pSBMA-grafted glass slides are
superhydrophilic and underwater superoleophobic. Such superhydrophilicity
and underwater superoleophobicity were realized by modifying surface
chemistry only, with no need to create rough surfaces. The pSBMA-grafted
glass fiber filters demonstrated exceptional results at separating
oil from water without even allowing miniscule amounts of visible
oil to permeate through