Nanotechnology Centre, Institute of Textiles and Clothing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University , Hong Kong SAR 999077, China.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2016 Sep 28;8(38):25612-20. doi: 10.1021/acsami.6b08747. Epub 2016 Sep 14.
It is challenging to explore a unified solution for the treatment of oily wastewater from complex sources. Thus, membrane materials with flexible separation schemes are highly desired. Herein, we fabricated a smart membrane by electrospinning TiO2 doped polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) nanofibers. The as-formed beads-on-string structure and hierarchical roughness of the nanofibers contribute to its superwetting/resisting property to liquids, which is desirable in oil/water separation. Switched simply by UV (or sunlight) irradiation and heating treatment, the smart membrane can realize reversible separation of oil/water mixtures by selectively allowing water or oil to pass through alone. Most importantly, the as-prepared nanofiber membrane possesses outstanding antifouling and self-cleaning performance resulting from the photocatalytic property of TiO2, which has practical significance in saving solvents and recycling materials. This work provides a route for fabricating cost-effective, easily scaled up, and recyclable membranes for on-demand oil/water separation in versatile situations, which can be of great usage in the new green separation technology.
探索一种统一的方法来处理复杂来源的含油废水极具挑战性。因此，人们非常希望得到具有灵活分离方案的膜材料。在此，我们通过静电纺丝制备了一种掺杂 TiO2 的聚偏二氟乙烯 (PVDF) 纳米纤维智能膜。所形成的串珠状结构和纳米纤维的分级粗糙度有助于其对液体的超润湿/抗粘性，这在油水分离中是理想的。通过简单地切换紫外光 (或阳光) 照射和热处理，智能膜可以通过选择性地允许水或油单独通过来实现油/水混合物的可逆分离。最重要的是，由于 TiO2 的光催化特性，所制备的纳米纤维膜具有出色的抗污染和自清洁性能，这在节省溶剂和回收材料方面具有实际意义。这项工作为在各种情况下按需制备经济高效、易于放大和可回收的膜提供了一种途径，这对于新的绿色分离技术具有重要的应用价值。
