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Updated: Jan 20, 2026

Fabricating Cotton Analytical Devices
Published on: August 30, 2016
On-Demand Oil-Water Separation by Environmentally Responsive Cotton Fabrics
Meina Xiao1, Yinghui Huang1, Anli Xu1
1Department of Polymer Materials Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510641, China.
Abstract:
Environmentally responsive cotton fabrics were fabricated by dip-coating ABC miktoarm star terpolymers, which contain reactive poly(3-triisopropyloxysilylpropyl methacrylate) blocks, hydrophobic poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) blocks, and hydrophilic poly(N,N-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate) (PDMAEMA) blocks. The functionalized cotton fabrics with perfectly alternating PDMS and PDMAEMA blocks show underoil superhydrophobicity and underwater superoleophobicity. The wettability and permeability of the functionalized fabrics can be readily adjusted by the contacting medium. More interestingly, surface reconstruction causes a reduction in the breakthrough pressure of the nonwetting phase. The adaptive permeability endows the functionalized cotton fabrics with the capability to separate heavy oil-water-light oil ternary mixtures.
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