Preparation and characterization of cotton fabric with potential use in UV resistance and oil reclaim

•The fabrication route is simple, facile and cost-effective.•The treated textiles exhibit excellent superhydrophobicity and UV-shielding property.•This cotton displays an outstanding potency in oil reclaim.•This cotton textile possesses an outstanding durability.•This cotton textile would find practical and diversified applications.

Here we report a simple, facile and low-cost approach to the cotton textile with significant properties. After treatment, the cotton textiles exhibit not only an excellent superhydrophobicity with the water contact angle (WCA) of 151.5o, but also an efficient shielding property against UV with the transmittance under 2.0%. More importantly, this cotton displays an outstanding potency in oil reclaim, which can recycle oil from the waste water with oil stain efficiently. Apparently, our results suggest an innovative material that should find practical and diversified applications, particularly in the field of oil spill cleanup.