Sustainable synthesis of superhydrophobic textile filters for oil/water separation using biomass waste-derived Bio-Ag nanoparticles

Abstract

Abstract Separation of oil and water has become a daunting task at a global scale due to the frequent presence of industrial oily wastewater. This study describes the synthesis of a Bio-Ag nanoparticle and its utilization in fabricating superhydrophobic (SH) films on textile fibers for separating oil–water mixture. The Bio-Ag nanoparticles were prepared from grape seed extract. The study examined various aspects of the synthesized SH textile fiber, including its morphology, wettability, surface composition, chemical stability, mechanical stability, oil absorption capacity, oil–water separation performance, and flux rate. The results indicate that the developed Bio-Ag-based SH textile filter has excellent SH properties, with a low water sliding angle of 1° and a high water contact angles of 159°. The SH textile filter exhibited good separation efficiency, oil absorption capacity, and flux rate toward silicone oil, toluene, and petroleum ether. The SH textile filter also demonstrated satisfactory chemical and mechanical stability. The developed Bio-Ag-based SH textile filter has the potential to be an efficient material for oil–water separation applications.