Surface modification of highly hydrophobic polyester fabric coated with octadecylamine-functionalized graphene nanosheets

This study focuses on the design of highly hydrophobic polyester fabrics (PET) coated with organophilic graphene nanosheets (G-ODA) through a simple, cost-effective and scalable coating method. The organophilic graphene oxide was successfully synthesized by covalently grafting a long chain fatty amine on its surface and was fully characterized by various physicochemical techniques. G-ODA was coated at different loadings onto the PET fabric ranging from 1 to 7 wt% to produce uniformly dispersed PET@G-ODA fabrics with multifunctional performances. FTIR has confirmed the formation of strong interfacial interaction between the PET and G-ODA functional groups. Moreover, the produced PET@G-ODA fabrics resulted in achieving enhanced thermal stability as well as excellent water repellency compared to the pristine PET. Water contact angle measurements showed a tremendous enhancement of surface hydrophobicity up to 148° with 7 wt% loading of G-ODA. Tensile strength tests revealed that our fabric exhibited excellent mechanical properties compared to neat PET. In addition, the designed PET@G-ODA fabrics demonstrated excellent oil/water separation efficiency for different oil/water mixtures. The obtained results are very promising in terms of designing and producing functional PET fabrics with improved thermal and surface proprieties.

This study focuses on the design of highly hydrophobic polyester fabrics (PET) coated with organophilic graphene nanosheets (G-ODA) through a simple, cost-effective and scalable coating method.