A novel super hydrophobic cotton yarn inspired by plant polyphenol for oil/water separation in sea water

The tannic acid/iron modified cotton yarn (TA/Fe@CY) as inspired by plant polyphenol was prepared as a stable and highly efficient material in oil/water separation with a simple and environmentally friendly preparation method. Owing to the rough structures of the surface, TA/Fe@CY showed super hydrophobicity with a water contact angle of greater than 150º using water droplets of different pH (from 1 to 10). In addition, the TA/Fe@CY showed high oil separation efficiency from the simulated seawater. TA/Fe@CY also exhibited high separation efficiency for six kinds of oil phases. This paper provides a simple preparation method with low-cost materials for efficient oil/water separation, especially for oil separation from seawater.