Superhydrophobic Hair-Like Nanowire Membrane for the Highly Efficient Separation of Oil/Water Mixtures

Abstract

Water pollution caused by oil leakage and oily wastewater has become a serious environmental problem. Therefore, it is important to develop an efficient material to remove oil from water. Given the cost and efficiency, the membrane with superhydrophobicity is the most used material for the separation of oil/water mixtures. However, many works have been done through modification with a fluorinated reagent, causing high cost and damage to the environment. In this work, a simple and fast two-step method is employed to achieve a superhydrophobic hair-like nanowire membrane. Through the alkali-assisted oxidation process and modification with nonfluorinated low surface energy chemical, the so-obtained membrane (denoted as SHM), with the water contact angle of about 164°, exhibits excellent separation efficiency for binary mixtures of water and oils (toluene, hexane, gasoline, and so on). Meantime, this membrane also exhibits excellent durability and reusability in the long-term separation process, indicating its great potential for practical application in the future.