Superhydrophobic nylon fabric with kaolin coating for oil removal under harsh water environments

Abstract Superhydrophobic coatings have aroused widespread attention in the application of oil/water separation. Many techniques have been proposed to fabricate such unique surfaces, but most superhydrophobic surfaces are difficult to satisfy the requirement of long-term separation to actual oily wastewater due to weak mechanical strength and complicated fabrication process. Herein, we demonstrate a simple and facile route to construct superhydrophobic coating on nylon fabric (NF) surface via combining commercial epoxy resin adhesives (ERA) with hydrophobic kaolin (KL) clay. Raw materials for coating are low-cost and the whole fabrication process is relatively eco-friendly. The fabricated coating possesses favorable chemical stability, mechanical durability, and antifouling ability to cope with various harsh environments. More importantly, the coated NF can separate various oils from hot water and corrosive water with high efficiency (>98%). We believe that the stable, durable, and eco-friendly superhydrophobic coating has high application potential in the fields of oily wastewater purification.