Process Safety and Environmental Protection, Vol.147, 788-797, 2021
Dopamine-decorated lotus leaf-like PVDF/TiO2 membrane with underwater superoleophobic for highly efficient oil-water separation
Oil and organic pollutants removal becomes an efficient solution to dispose of industrial oily and textile dye wastewater. This study proposes a lotus leaf-like bionic nanofibrous membrane with underwater superoleophobic for highly efficient oil-water separation. Papillary structure of the bionic membrane is formed by electrospraying of PVDF and TiO2 solutions on the surface of beaded-structure PVDF/TiO2 membrane. Dopamine is then decorated on the resultant PVDF/TiO2 membrane by in situ polymerization to be with hydrophilic-underwater oleophobic property for highly efficient oil-water separation. This bionic membrane has > 99 % oil-water separation efficiency, and high flux of 1389 +/- 67 L m(-2) h(-1). Its contact angle of underwater petroleum ether and dichlomethane reaches 155 degrees and 152 degrees, respectively. Moreover, it has excellent water transport capacity, photocatalytic property, as well as high separation efficiency and flux even after 5-cycle filtration. This bionic nanofibrous membrane will become a promising candidate in clean production, industrial oil/water separation, water purification and efficient liquid transmission. (C) 2021 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.