Sand-Based Economical Micro/Nanocomposite Materials for Diverse Applications

Sand is one of the most fundamental construction materials that is of significant importance and widely used for making concrete, plasters, and mortars, and also for filling under floor and basements. Sand-derived functional materials, for instance superhydrophobic sand, which can be used to prepare liquid marble, separate oil-water mixtures, and transport liquids, have recently been a highly topical and promising research field. However, such materials are mainly prepared using valuable surface modification agents via complicated procedures that are difficult for mass-production, which restricted their true applications. Here, we developed a simple, low-cost, and efficient method for the development of sand-based hierarchical micro/nanostructured composite materials with diverse applications. Briefly, micro/nanostructured superhydrophobic sand was synthesized by one-step in situ growth of a network layer of silicone nanofilaments on the surface of sand microparticles, using only one cheap chemical of small molecules of silanes. The as-prepared superhydrophobic sand displays excellent performance in waterproofing, water storage, soil moisturizing, and oil-water separation. Furthermore, sand-supported micro/nanocomposite catalysts were obtained through covalent attachment of polyamines on the surface of silicone nanofilaments. Such composites, packed in a glass column, were used as a simple flow reactor for Knoevenagel condensation reactions. Quantitative amounts of pure products without further purification can be obtained in such a simple way that just allowing the reactants solution flows through the composite catalysts driven by gravity. These results pave the way toward the development of sand-based multifunctional materials with great potential for industrial use, given their versatile functions and excellent performances but easy-to-fabricate, low-cost preparation procedure.