Synthesis of Amphibious Superamphiphilic Carbon-based Materials and its Property

Recently, superamphiphilic materials have attracted significant attentions because of the excellent affinity to both water and oil. In this study, a novel but simple strategy to endow carbon cloth and polyurethane (PU) foam with amphibious superamphiphilicity (i.e. superamphiphilicity simultaneously in air and at pre-wetted state) has been demonstrated. Results showed surface wettability of the carbon cloth started to turn from hydrophobicity into superamphiphilicity by increasing the acidification time with HNO3, which manifested the contact angle of 0° for water and oils no matter at dry state or pre-wetted with water or oil. Subsequently, the superamphiphilic PU foam was fabricated based on the simple acidification, which possessed excellent superamphiphilicity with less than 19 seconds for water and oil fluids to spread completely when the PU foam was at dry state or pre-wetted with water or oil. Meanwhile, the PU foam exhibited high storage capacity for water and oil up to 9–12 times of its own weight. The discovery of the superamphiphilic foam will provide a versatile and effective way for the development of superwetting materials and their applications in self-cleaning and anti-fouling fields.