Bio-Inspired Fabrication of Porous Aromatic Framework-Coated Fabric for Achieving Durable Superhydrophobic Applications

Abstract

Porous aromatic frameworks (PAFs) composed of high-density phenyl units are renowned for stable micro/meso-porous architecture and highly hydrophobic surface, which make them ideal candidates for durable superhydrophobic applications, especially under harsh conditions. Herein, a carbazole-based PAF solid is synthesized using carbazole and triphenylamine as the building units through the C-C linking pattern. For the first time, the PAF powder is uniformly deposited on the fabric surface via a facile dip-coating method, which thus shows superhydrophobicity with high water contact angle of 153.8° and oil contact angle of approximately 0°. Consequently, the PAF-coated fabric displays an outstanding simple oil/water mixture and separation efficiency of over 96% and enables simple and time-saving cyclic utilization at least 10 times. Due to the ultrahigh stability of PAF skeleton, the PAF-based composite maintains high superhydrophobicity under extreme conditions including high temperature, high humidity, and strong acidic/alkaline solutions. These results delineate important research advances toward the implementation of PAF powder in superhydrophobic applications.