Chen Haoran, Wang Riyuan, Meng Weiming, Chen Fanglin, Li Tao, Wang Dingding, Wei Chunxiang, Lu Hongdian, Yang Wei
School of Energy, Materials and Chemical Engineering, Hefei University, Hefei 230601, China.
Nanomaterials (Basel). 2021 Oct 27;11(11):2866. doi: 10.3390/nano11112866.
A superhydrophobic macroporous material composed of hollow hemispherical MXene (HSMX) was synthesized by the thermal annealing of MXene-wrapped cationic polystyrene spheres (CPS@MXene). Notably, the spherical MXene shells exhibited highly efficient catalysis of the carbonization of CPS into carbon nanoparticles. Their insertion into the interlayer of MXene increased the d-spacing and created hollow hemispheres. The as-prepared HSMX with nanoscale walls had a lower packing density than MXene, but higher porosity, total pore volume, and total pore area. Moreover, the stacking of hollow hemispheres promoted the formation of a highly undulating macroporous surface and significantly improved the surface roughness of the HSMX-based 3D membrane, resulting in superhydrophobicity with a water contact angle of 156.4° and a rolling angle of 6°. As a result, the membrane exhibited good separation efficiency and for emulsifier-stabilized water-in-paraffin liquid emulsions, which was dependent on its superhydrophobic performance and strong demulsification ability derived from the razor effect originating from the ultrathin walls of HSMX. This work provides a facile approach for the transformation of highly hydrophilic 2D MXene into superhydrophobic 3D HSMX, and opens a new pathway for the development of advanced MXene-based materials for environmental remediation applications.
通过对包裹阳离子聚苯乙烯球的MXene（CPS@MXene）进行热退火，合成了一种由中空半球形MXene（HSMX）组成的超疏水大孔材料。值得注意的是，球形MXene壳对CPS碳化生成碳纳米颗粒表现出高效催化作用。它们插入MXene的层间增加了d间距并形成了中空半球。所制备的具有纳米级壁的HSMX的堆积密度低于MXene，但孔隙率、总孔体积和总孔面积更高。此外，中空半球的堆积促进了高度起伏的大孔表面的形成，并显著提高了基于HSMX的3D膜的表面粗糙度，从而产生了水接触角为156.4°、滚动角为6°的超疏水性。结果，该膜对乳化剂稳定的石蜡包水型液体乳液表现出良好的分离效率，这取决于其超疏水性能以及源自HSMX超薄壁的剃刀效应所带来的强破乳能力。这项工作为将高亲水性二维MXene转变为超疏水三维HSMX提供了一种简便方法，并为开发用于环境修复应用的先进MXene基材料开辟了一条新途径。
