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Superhydrophilic and underwater superoleophobic nanofibrous membrane for separation of oil/water emulsions

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Abstract

Membranes with special wettability have attracted increasing interest for oil/water separation. Herein, the cellulose-based nanofibrous membrane was fabricated in an aqueous system by an electrospinning technique. The membrane was then modified successively through coating polydopamine and polyethyleneimine on the surface, which endowed the membrane with superhydrophilic and underwater superoleophobic character. The composition and morphology of the resultant membrane were characterized by attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectra, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and field-emission scanning electron microscope, respectively. Surfactant-stabilized oil-in-water emulsions were used to evaluate the separation performance of the membrane at different pH values. It was found that the membrane displayed the excellent antifouling property and separation performance for all different emulsions, with separation efficiency above 99.1% due to the development of a hydration layer underwater on the membrane surface. The reusability study indicated that the modification coating was stable enough to effectively separate emulsions after recycling at least 20 times. The developed nanofibrous membrane, as well as the corresponding modification strategy, enriched the application of membranes with special wettability in the field of oil spills and oily wastewater treatments.

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Acknowledgements

The work was supported by the Joint Open Fund of Engineering Center for Straw Ecological Building Materials of Jiangsu Province and the Innovative Service Platform for Ecological Building Materials of Jiangsu Province, the “Six Top Talents” Program of Jiangsu Province (2015-XCL-034), and the Science and Technology Project from the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the People’s Republic of China (2014-K7-007). The authors also thank the Analysis and Testing Center of Yancheng Institute of Technology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Yancheng Institute of Technology, 224051, Yancheng, P.R. China

    Jingjing Wang

  2. Engineering Center for Straw Ecological Building Materials of Jiangsu Province, Yancheng Institute of Technology, 224051, Yancheng, P.R. China

    Luming Wang

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  1. Jingjing Wang
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Correspondence to Jingjing Wang.

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Wang, J., Wang, L. Superhydrophilic and underwater superoleophobic nanofibrous membrane for separation of oil/water emulsions. Journal of Materials Research 35, 1504–1513 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2020.137

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2020.137

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