Antibacterial and oil-water separation applications of Bi₂O₃ coating with reversible wettability

Abstract

The application of materials with special wettability is a hot research topic in recent years. It is reported that Bi2O3 coating with hydrophobic modification could achieve the reversible conversion of superhydrophobicity to superhydrophilicity under UV-visible light irradiation and dark storage. Based on this finding, the application of Bi2O3 coating in antibacterial and oil-water separation under different wettability was studied. The results show that superhydrophobic surface exhibits good bacterial anti-adhesion effect against E.coli and S.aureus, while superhydrophilic surface shows selectively antibacterial activity. In terms of oil-water separation, the superhydrophobic surface can block water and allow oil pass through the filter with the separation efficiency more than 93%, while the superhydrophilic surface can block oil and allow water pass through the filter after pre-wetting treatment. Therefore, Bi2O3 coating with reversible wettability can be used as an intelligent antibacterial membrane material for oil-water separation, which has potential application in the field of oil-water separation.

Keywords

• superhydrophobicity
• superhydrophilicity
• reversible wettability
• bi₂o₃
• antibacterial coating
• oil-water separation