title: Facile Fabrication of a Polyethylene Mesh for Oil/Water Separation in a Complex Environment.
abstract: Low cost, eco-friendly, and easily scaled-up processes are needed to fabricate efficient oil/water separation materials, especially those useful in harsh environments such as highly acidic, alkaline, and salty environments, to deal with serious oil spills and industrial organic pollutants. Herein, a highly efficient oil/water separation mesh with durable chemical stability was fabricated by simply scratching and pricking a conventional polyethylene (PE) film. Multiscaled morphologies were obtained by this scratching and pricking process and provided the mesh with a special wettability performance termed superhydrophobicity, superoleophilicity, and low water adhesion, while the inert chemical properties of PE delivered chemical etching resistance to the fabricated mesh. In addition to a highly efficient oil/corrosive liquid separation, the fabricated PE mesh was also reusable and exhibited ultrafast oil/water separation solely by gravity. The easy operation, chemical durability, reusability, and efficiency of the novel PE mesh give it high potential for use in industrial and consumer applications.
authors: Key Laboratory of Bio-inspired Smart Interfacial Science and Technology of Ministry of Education, Beijing Key Laboratory of Bio-inspired Energy Materials and Devices, School of Chemistry and Environment, Beihang University , Beijing, 100191, P. R. China.
authors: Tianyi
authors: T
authors: Zhao
authors: Key Laboratory of Bio-inspired Smart Interfacial Science and Technology of Ministry of Education, Beijing Key Laboratory of Bio-inspired Energy Materials and Devices, School of Chemistry and Environment, Beihang University , Beijing, 100191, P. R. China.
authors: Dongmei
authors: D
authors: Zhang
authors: Key Laboratory of Bio-inspired Materials and Interfacial Science, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100190, P. R. China.
authors: Cunming
authors: C
authors: Yu
authors: Key Laboratory of Bio-inspired Smart Interfacial Science and Technology of Ministry of Education, Beijing Key Laboratory of Bio-inspired Energy Materials and Devices, School of Chemistry and Environment, Beihang University , Beijing, 100191, P. R. China.|Key Laboratory of Bio-inspired Materials and Interfacial Science, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100190, P. R. China.
authors: Lei
authors: L
authors: Jiang
keywords: complex environment; durability; oil/water separation; recyclability; superhydrophobicity