A Weaving Method to Prepare Double-Layer Janus Fabric for Oil-Water Separation

In order to solve the global problem of waste oil pollution, develop highly effective oil-water mixtures separation materials become necessary, especially in those industries where exist a large number of waste oil pollution, such as printing and dyeing industry and petroleum industry. In this paper, a novel method, combination of yarn hydrophobic finishing technique and weaving was used to prepare double-layer Janus fabrics, which one side is super-hydrophobic and the other side is super-hydrophilic. Because the hydrophobic finishing is targeted at the yarn, the hydrophobic layer on the woven hydrophobic surface is uniform and anisotropic, and this helps the fabric separate oil and water. Studies shows that the heavy oil/water mixture and light oil/water mixture can be separated by double-layer Janus fabric with the driven of gravity, and the separation flux of the fabric is 6730 L·m−2h−1 and 7460 L·m−2h−1 separately. And after 30 cycles, the separation efficiency also exceeds 97 %. Moreover, this work is very applicable to traditional textile manufacturing methods, and thus enables large-scale industrial production. Compared the cost of oil-water separation materials with general methods, the fabric is lower. What’s more, it may inspire new understanding of the fabric’s special wetting structure.