Department of Chemical Engineering, McMaster University , Hamilton, Canada L8S 4L7.
College of Chemical Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology , Hangzhou 310014, China.
Langmuir. 2017 Oct 31;33(43):11936-11944. doi: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.7b02539. Epub 2017 Oct 17.
Polymer membranes with switchable wettability have promising applications in smart separation. Hereby, we report highly porous poly(styrene-co-N,N-(diethylamino)ethyl methacrylate) (i.e., poly(St-co-DEA)) membranes with "open-cell" structure and CO-switchable wettability prepared from water-in-oil (W/O) high internal phase emulsion (HIPE) templates. The open-cell porous structure facilitates fluid penetration through the membranes. The combination of CO-switchable functionality and porous microstructure enable the membrane with CO-switchable wettability from hydrophobic or superoleophilic to hydrophilic or superoleophobic through CO treatment in an aqueous system. This type of membrane can be used for gravity-driven CO-controlled oil/water separation, in which oil selectively penetrates through the membrane and separates from water. After being treated with CO switching wettability of the membrane, a reversed separation of water and oil can be achieved. Such a wettability switch is fully reversible, and the membrane could be regenerated through simple removal of CO and oil residual through drying. This facile and cost-effective approach represents the development of the first CO-switchable polyHIPE system, which is promising for smart separation in a large volume.
具有可切换润湿性的聚合物膜在智能分离中具有广阔的应用前景。本研究报告了一种高多孔的聚（苯乙烯-共-N,N-二乙基氨基乙基甲基丙烯酸酯）（即聚（St-co-DEA））膜，其具有“开孔”结构和 CO 可切换润湿性，是由油包水（W/O）高内相乳液（HIPE）模板制备而成。开孔多孔结构有利于流体穿透膜。CO 可切换功能和多孔微观结构的结合使膜具有 CO 可切换润湿性，可将疏水性或超亲油性转变为亲水性或超疏油性，通过在水体系中进行 CO 处理。这种膜可用于重力驱动的 CO 控制油水分离，其中油选择性地穿透膜并与水分离。在对膜进行 CO 润湿性能切换处理后，可实现水和油的反向分离。这种润湿性切换是完全可逆的，并且通过简单地去除 CO 和干燥去除油残留，可对膜进行再生。这种简单且具有成本效益的方法代表了首个 CO 可切换聚 HIPE 体系的发展，该体系有望在大容量下用于智能分离。
