Thiol-ene click chemistry reaction for preparing superhydrophobic polyamide fabric with self-cleaning, UV-blocking, photothermal conversion and antibacterial properties

Polyphenols have been utilized to connect hydrophobic modifiers with certain substrates because of their adhesive properties and multiple active groups in their structure. Nevertheless, research is scarce regarding using polyphenols to enhance the superhydrophobic properties of polyamide. In this study, a plant-derived phenolic compound, p-coumaric acid (pCA), was chelated with Fe3+ and deposited on the polyamide 66 (PA66) surface to increase its roughness. Subsequently, octadecanethiol was grafted onto pCA using a thiol-ene click chemistry reaction to create a superhydrophobic modified PA66 fabric (pCA-Fe-SH-PA66) with a static water contact angle (CA) of 154.4° and a sliding angle (SA) of 2°. The resulting pCA-Fe-SH-PA66 demonstrated excellent capabilities in self-cleaning, UV-blocking, photothermal conversion, and oil-water separation. Furthermore, pCA-Fe-SH-PA66 exhibited remarkable antibacterial ability, displaying inhibitory rates of 97.00% against E. coli and 96.15% against S. aureus, respectively. Additionally, it demonstrated noteworthy stability in a series of tests, encompassing 225 min of washing, 1000 cycles of abrasion, 48 h of UV light aging, 48 h of acid/base solution, seawater, and organic reagents immersion. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that three additional plant-derived phenolic compounds, namely 3-hydroxycinnamic acid (HA), polyatin (PD), and 4-hydroxy-3,5-dimethoxycinnamic acid (HDA), can also be effectively utilized for the multifunctional modification of PA66 fabric. The proposed modification method is mild, fast, and simple, offering a novel approach to the multifunctional modification of synthetic materials. The modified PA66 fabric holds potential in applications such as oily wastewater treatment, outdoor sportswear, tents, and other fields.