title: Fabrication of superhydrophilic-underwater superoleophobic inorganic anti-corrosive membranes for high-efficiency oil/water separation.
abstract: The issue of oil/water separation has recently become a global concern due to the frequency of oil spills and the increase in industrial waste water. Thus, membrane-based materials with unique wettability are desired to separate both of these from a mixture. Nevertheless, the fabrication of energy efficient and stable membranes appropriate for the separation process remains challenging. Herein, synergistic superhydrophilic-underwater superoleophobic inorganic membranes were inventively created by a maneuverable galvanic displacement reaction on copper mesh. The "water-loving" meshes were then used to study gravity driven oil-water separation, where a separation efficiency (the ratio of the amount of oil remaining above the membrane after the separation process to the amount of oil in original mixture) of up to 97% was achieved for various oil-water mixtures, and furthermore the wetting properties and separating performances were maintained without further attenuation after exposure to corrosive environments. Notably, the "repelling-oil" mode can switch to a superhydrophobic mode which acts as a supplementary "oil slick absorbing" material floating above the water surface and has potential in tackling oil slick clean-up issues, in comparison to the former mode which possesses better "separation ability". In addition, the original "repelling-oil" state can be reinstated with ease. The novel method involving a "one-cyclic transformation course" abandons extra chemical addition. The facile and green route presented here acts as an excellent test for the fabrication of a dual-functioning membrane with potential use in efficient oil-water separation, even in harsh environments, and off-shore oil spill cleanup.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Strongly-Coupled Quantum Matter Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, School of Physical Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, P. R. China. xlxu@ustc.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Luyan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Strongly-Coupled Quantum Matter Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, School of Physical Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, P. R. China. xlxu@ustc.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Chen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Strongly-Coupled Quantum Matter Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, School of Physical Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, P. R. China. xlxu@ustc.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Siyu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Strongly-Coupled Quantum Matter Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, School of Physical Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, P. R. China. xlxu@ustc.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA. gmg@ku.edu.
authors.forename: MaoGang
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Strongly-Coupled Quantum Matter Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, School of Physical Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, P. R. China. xlxu@ustc.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xiaoliang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xu