Raspberry-like SiO₂ particles with a nano-micro-binary structure were prepared by a simple sol-gel method using tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) and methyltriethoxysilane (MTES) as precursors. The chemical components and morphology of the SiO₂ particles were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and a Transmission electron microscope (TEM). The surface topography and wetting behaviour of the raspberry-like SiO₂ surface were observed with a Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and studied by the water/oil contact angle (CA), respectively. The thermal stability of the prepared SiO₂ particles was characterized by TGA analysis. The results show that the highly dispersed SiO₂ particles initially prepared by the sol-gel method turn into raspberry-like particles with during the aging process. The raspberry-like SiO₂ particles show superhydrophobicity and superoleophilicity across a wide range of pH values. The SiO₂ particles were thermally stable up to 475°C, while above this temperature the hydrophobicity decreases and finally becomes superhydrophobic when the temperature reaches 600°C. The raspberry-like SiO₂ particles which were prepared have potential applications in the fields of superhydrophobic surfaces, water-oil separation, anti-corrosion and fluid transportation.

In this study, DICY (dicyandiamide)-containing novolac (NN) was first prepared, and then DOPO (9,10-Dihydro-9-oxa-10-phosphaphenanthrene-10-oxide) was introduced to react with the unsaturated bonds from DICY to obtain a novel phosphorus-nitrogen-containing novolac resin (PNN), which was used as a curing agent for epoxy resins. The curing condition was confirmed by a non-isothermal curing kinetics study. The thermal stability and flame retardancy of the cured epoxy resin system were studied by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), limited oxygen index (LOI) measurement, UL-94 test and cone calorimeter. The morphology of the burned chard residues was observed by Scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results show that epoxy resin cured by the prepared PNN curing system presents excellent flame retardancy. The cured resin system, which contains only 1.31wt% phosphorus and 2.48wt% nitrogen, can achieve UL 94 V-0 rating.

A novel high-efficient flame retardant epoxy grafted poly-acrylic resin modified by phosphorus and nitrogen was successfully synthesized by radical grafting polymerization and solution polymerization simultaneously. The flame retardancy of copolymer resin was investigated using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), cone calorimetric test (CONE), limiting oxygen index (LOI) and so on. The micro-morphology and chemical composition of char formed after a CONE calorimetric test was analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), respectively. The Kissinger method was used to evaluate the kinetics of thermal decomposition on copolymer resin. The results showed that the flame retardant property of copolymer resin increased with the increase in phosphorus content. With the increase in nitrogen content, however, the flame retardant property first increased and then decreased. The flame retardant property of the resin was the best and the limiting oxygen index could reach 34.3% when the phosphorus content and nitrogen content of the copolymer resin were 6.45 wt% and 2.33 wt%, respectively. Meanwhile, nitrogen-containing compounds will interact with phosphorus-containing compounds to form P-N intermediates during combustion, which have stronger dehydration and carbonization and could further enhance the flame retardant performance of the resin and generate phosphorus-nitrogen synergistic interactions.

In this study, a facile one-step dip-coating approach was reported for the fabrication of superhydrophobic and superoleophilic cotton fabrics for oil–water separation. By depositing the hydrophobic nano-SiO₂ on the micro-scale cotton fabric surface, the combination of the nano-SiO₂ and the micro-roughness cotton fabric created a micro/nano-binary surface roughness and presents superhydrophobicity and superoleophilicity. SEM, EDS, and TGA result shows that the treated cotton fabric was completely covered by the nano-SiO₂ particles when the nano-SiO₂ particles was about only 3.6 wt% of the pristine cotton fabric. The separation efficiency of the fabricated superhydrophobic and superoleophilic fabric was calculated up to 98.3 wt%. The one-step production technique described here is realizable for industrial use, relatively mild processing conditions, and large-scale fabrication.

Siloxane-modified styrene-acrylate latex particles with core-shell structure were prepared by two-stage semicontinuous emulsion polymerization using a reactive surfactant. Effects of catalyst dosage, weight ratio of γ-methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane (MAPS) to hydroxyl silicone oil (HSO) and siloxane content on the grafting degree of siloxane were studied. The chemical components of the copolymer were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectra. The micromorphology of latex particles was observed by transmission electron microscopy. The stability properties of emulsion were tested by Ca²⁺, centrifugal, and mechanical stability test. The latex film was studied by water contact angle, water absorption ratio and thermal gravimetric analysis. The results show that siloxane-modified styrene-acrylate latex with core-shell structure can be synthesized using reactive surfactant and the prepared emulsion presents excellent stability. By using hydroxyl silicone oil (HSO) to react with silane coupling agent MAPS during emulsion polymerization, HSO can be located in the side chain of the polymer and endow the latex film with excellent stabilities.

In this study, the effects of the opening ratio and neutralization degree of diethanolamine to the formation of epoxy emulsion were examined. o-Cresol formaldehyde epoxy resin was modified with 9,10-dihydro-9-xa-10-phosphaphenanthrene-10-oxide and diethanolamine and was then neutralized by acetic acid to obtain a phosphorus-containing epoxy emulsion by the phase inversion method. The microstructure and size distribution of the epoxy latex were characterized using transmission electron microscopy and the Malvern particle sizer, respectively. The glass transition temperatures of epoxy resins and their thermosets were characterized using differential scanning calorimetry. The flame retardancy of the phosphorus-containing epoxy thermosets was tested by the UL-94 test method, limiting oxygen index (LOI), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The result shows that when the diethanolamine opening ratio was 22.5% and neutralization degree was 100.0%, a stable epoxy emulsion was obtained. When the phosphorus content of the epoxy resin was 2.5 wt%, the LOI value of the epoxy thermoset can reach 36.8 and pass the V-0 rating of the UL-94 test. TGA and scanning electron microscopy images of char residue of epoxy thermosets show that the flame-retardant mechanism of the phosphorus-containing epoxy thermoset was mainly attributed to a condensed-phase mechanism.