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US 2017/0326504 A1Published application
Grafted membranes and substrates having surfaces with switchable superoleophilicity and superoleophobicity and applications thereof
AssigneeKing Abdullah University of Science and Technology
InventorsLianbin Zhang, Peng Wang
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Abstract
Disclosed herein are surface-modified membranes and other surface-modified substrates exhibiting switchable oleophobicity and oleophilicity in aqueous media. These membranes and substrates may be used for variety of applications, including controllable oil/water separation processes, oil spill cleanup, and oil/water purification. Also provided are the making and processing of such surface-modified membranes and other surface-modified substrates.
Claims20
A surface-modified material for removing oil from water, comprising:
- a polymer grafted to and/or from a substrate such that a surface of a surface-modified material is oleophilic and/or hydrophobic at a first condition and oleophobic and/or hydrophilic at a second condition;
- wherein the substrate has a different chemical composition than the polymer;
- wherein the polymer comprises a wettability-responsive polymer, polymer segment, or polymer block comprising poly(N-isopropylacrylamide), polyacrylamide, polypyrrole, polythiophene, polyaniline, poly(2-vinylpyridine), poly(4-vinylpyridine), poly(acrylic acid), poly(methylacrylic acid), poly(2-(diethylamino)ethylmethacrylate, poly(spiropyran methacrylate), poly(methacryloyl ethylene phosphate), poly[2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl]-dimethyl(3-sulfopropyl)ammonium hydroxide, or poly[2-(methacryloyloxy)-ethyl-trimethylammonium chloride].
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.