Superhydrophobic paper from conjugated poly(p-phenylene)s: Self-assembly and separation of oil/water mixture

The oil pollution is an increasing threat to nature and human health. Therefore, effective separation of oil from the oily wastewater is a challenging task. Through the nonsolvent vapor method, a superhydrophobic paper can be self-assembled by dropping the conjugated poly-p-phenylenes solution on the commercial filter paper in a nonsolvent vapor atmosphere. The numerous nano-mircostructral particles composed of polymer nanowires covered on the filter paper, just like the morphology of lotus leaves, lead to the excellent superhydrophobic effect. Moreover, the polymer-coated filter paper not only exhibits good mechanical stability, long-term durability, self-cleaning, but also has superhydrophobicity and superoleophilicity. The as-prepared paper possess remarkable oil/water separation ability for a variety of oil/water mixtures, including bromoethane, hexane, cyclohexane, petroleum ether, gasoline, dodecane, and the mixed oil of gasoline and diesel, demonstrating that it can be a good candidate for the treatment of industrial oil-polluted water. [Display omitted] •Superhydrophobic conjugated polymer-coated filter paper are self-assembled.•The polymer-coated paper showed good superhydrophobicity and superoleophilicity.•The as-prepared paper shows excellent self-cleaning effect and good durability.•The as-prepared paper shows remarkable oil/water separation ability.