University of Arkansas

Ganesh K Kannarpady

Alexandru S Biris

Ali T Abdulhussein

A medium for fast, selective oil-water separation and/or oil absorption includes steel wool modified with a polymer a polymer or a polymer mixture. The polymer or the polymer mixture is adapted such that the medium is a superwetting material that is superhydrophobic and superoleophilic under water. The polymer or the polymer mixture includes polydimethylsiloxane, polytetrafluoroethylene, polyvinylpyrrolidone, or a combination thereof. The solution immersion method used to synthesize the medium requires only a single, simple step and affordable materials and, as a result, is easy to scale up.

Magnetic, superhydrophobic and superoleophilic medium, synthesizing methods and applications of same

Certain aspects of the present disclosure are directed to a method of forming a superhydrophobic surface. The method includes: preparing a surface of a substrate of a first material; modifying the surface through an etching process to generate a plurality of nucleation sites in an array; forming, by using glancing angle deposition, a plurality of nano-rods of a second material and each at a respective one of the plurality of nucleation sites in the array; and depositing a conformal coating on the plurality of nano-rods.

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Little Rock, AR, United States of America

Ganesh K Kannarpady