Surface Metallization of Porous Polymer Materials for Multifunctional Applications

Porous materials have attracted great interest in recent years, and a variety of surface modification methods have been developed to endow porous materials with multifunctional applications. Herein, multifunctional porous materials are fabricated based on surface metallization. Metallized sponges with Ag and Cu are highly hydrophobic and are still hydrophobic under oil. The metallized sponges selectively adsorb oils from oil/water mixtures and can completely remove oils from water. We further demonstrate continuous oil-water separation by the metallized sponges with the aid of a peristaltic pump. The Ag-metallized materials show high catalytic performance for both chemical reduction and dye degradation. The catalytic reduction efficiency of 4-nitrophenol reaches 97.7% within 60 min and remains as high as 96% after 15 cycles. Moreover, the metallized materials show 99.99% bactericidal efficiency for both Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. Particularly, the Cu-metallized materials exhibit stable conductivity under deformation; and metal patterns are realized via the metallization method combined with a patterned mask, which may provide a feasible approach for flexible electronics. This work provides a versatile method to introduce metal coatings to porous materials, broadening the applications of porous materials.