Easy Use Recyclable Functional Cloths for On-Site Water Decontamination in ODA Countries and Humanitarian Crises

Plasma functionalisation techniques have been utilised to prepare cloths, bearing functional groups designed for water purification. Chapter 2 provides a detailed description of the experimental procedures performed, in terms of cloth preparation, characterisation and performance. Chapter 3 outlines the fabrication of the first of these cloths – a calixarene-based filter, synthesised by depositing pulsed plasma poly(4-vinylbenzyl chloride, 4-VBC) onto a polyurethane cloth, which acts as a linker layer, binding a calixarene to the surface of the cloth. The performance of this cloth towards the removal of aromatic azo dyes was investigated, with particular efficacy towards anionic dyes demonstrated. The second fabricated cloth, presented in Chapter 4, was also designed such that a calixarene was bound to the surface of a polyurethane cloth. In this case, chloroform plasma was used to functionalise the cloth with chloride groups, which could then be used to bind the calixarene to the filter. In this case, the filter was used to extract Cr(VI) oxyanions from solutions. The use of chloroform to treat the cloths is demonstrated to be a viable alternative to the more cumbersome and harmful pulsed plasma poly(4-VBC) deposition method utilised by Bieber et al. The final cloth, presented in Chapter 5, was fabricated by depositing pulsed plasma poly(2-cyanoethyl acrylate) onto a polyurethane cloth. The cloth was then reacted with hydroxylamine hydrochloride, which converts the cyano groups to amidoximes. Amidoximes are well known to extract uranium from solution, and so its performance towards uranium filtration was demonstrated.