materials-12-00132.pdf (4.58 MB)
3D arrays of super-hydrophobic microtubes from polypore mushrooms as naturally-derived systems for oil absorption
journal contribution
posted on 2019-01-28, 13:36 authored by G. Balzamo, Naval Singh, Ningjing Wang, Goran VladisavljevicGoran Vladisavljevic, Guido Bolognesi, Elisa MeleElisa MelePorous materials derived from natural resources, such as Luffa sponges, pomelo peel and jute fibres, have recently emerged as oil adsorbents for water purification, due to their suitability, low environmental impact, biodegradability and low cost. Here we show, for the first time, that the porosity of the fruiting body of polypore mushrooms can be used to absorb oils and organic solvents while repelling water. We engineered the surface properties of Ganoderma applanatum fungi, of which the fruiting body consists of a regular array of long capillaries embedded in a fibrous matrix, with paraffin wax, octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) and trichloro(1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorooctyl)silane. Morphological and wettability analyses of the modified fungus revealed that the OTS treatment was effective in preserving the 3D porosity of the natural material, inducing super-hydrophobicity (water contact angle higher than 150°) and improving oil sorption capacity (1.8-3.1 g/g). The treated fungus was also inserted into fluidic networks as a filtration element, and its ability to separate water from chloroform was demonstrated.
Funding
This research was partially funded by Royal Society, grant number RG2017 R2.
History
School
- Aeronautical, Automotive, Chemical and Materials Engineering
Department
- Chemical Engineering
Published in
MaterialsVolume
12Issue
1Citation
BALZAMO, G. ... et al, 2019. 3D arrays of super-hydrophobic microtubes from polypore mushrooms as naturally-derived systems for oil absorption. Materials, 12 (1), 132.Publisher
MDPI © The authorsVersion
- VoR (Version of Record)
Publisher statement
This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/Publication date
2019-01-03Notes
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).eISSN
1996-1944Publisher version
Language
- en