Thota Kamala, Araga Ramya, Vooradi Ramsagar, Kakunuri Manohar
Department of Chemical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Warangal, Warangal, Telangana, 506004, India.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2025 Mar 1. doi: 10.1007/s11356-025-36154-4.
Separating immiscible oil/water mixtures is relatively straightforward with conventional methods, but emulsions present a greater challenge. Efficient emulsion separation is crucial to preventing oil pollution, driving the need for advanced superhydrophobic and superoleophilic membranes. In this study, we demonstrate a method to adjust the membrane's wettability on a specific side by combining electrospraying and electrospinning techniques. The synthesis process involves electrospraying polystyrene-tetraethyl orthosilicate particles onto a polystyrene membrane, enabling selective tuning of surface wettability on one side. We study the prepared membrane's surface morphology, water contact angle (WCA), permeate flux, and separation efficiency. This hierarchical nanofibrous membrane exhibits a high WCA of ≈ 160 ± 1° and an oil contact angle of 0°. The superhydrophobicity of the membrane enables it to successfully separate oil from diesel, peanut, sunflower, and bean oil/water emulsions, exhibiting an excellent permeate flux of 1935 ± 72 L m h and an exceptional separation efficiency of 99 ± 0.2% in the diesel oil/water mixture case. Furthermore, compared to a pristine polystyrene nanofibrous membrane, the composite membrane shows a notable improvement in its oil/water separation performance.
用传统方法分离不混溶的油/水混合物相对简单，但乳液分离则面临更大挑战。高效的乳液分离对于防止油污染至关重要，这推动了对先进的超疏水和超亲油膜的需求。在本研究中，我们展示了一种通过结合电喷雾和电纺丝技术来调节膜在特定一侧的润湿性的方法。合成过程包括将聚苯乙烯 - 原硅酸四乙酯颗粒电喷雾到聚苯乙烯膜上，从而能够选择性地调节一侧的表面润湿性。我们研究了制备的膜的表面形态、水接触角（WCA）、渗透通量和分离效率。这种分级纳米纤维膜表现出约160±1°的高水接触角和0°的油接触角。膜的超疏水性使其能够成功地从柴油、花生油、向日葵油和豆油/水乳液中分离出油，在柴油/水混合物的情况下，表现出1935±72 L m⁻² h⁻¹的优异渗透通量和99±0.2%的卓越分离效率。此外，与原始的聚苯乙烯纳米纤维膜相比，复合膜在油/水分离性能方面有显著改善。
