Facile Fabrication of Electrospun Silica Nanofibrous Membrane with Hydrophobic, Oleophilic and Breathable Performances

We report a simple and versatile method to prepare hydrophobic composite SiO₂ membrane. The electrospun SiO₂ membrane was selected due to its good flexibility and thermal stability. The hydrophobic SiO₂ membrane was succussfully prepared by simply evaporating a thin polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) layer on the fiber surface. The characterization results show that the PDMS layer is too thin to be observed. The PDMS coating has no influence on the porous structure of the fibrous membrane, but imparts the good hydrophobicity and oleophilicity to the SiO₂ nanofibers. As demonstration, the hydrophobic SiO₂-PDMS membrane displays good oil absorption performance from the oil/water mixture, as well as filtration membrane for oil/water separation. Additionally, due to the proper pore size and hydrophobic surface, the SiO₂- PDMS membrane shows good waterproof performance and breathability at the same time.