Electrospun Fibrous Membranes with Dual-Scaled Porous Structure: Super Hydrophobicity, Super Lipophilicity, Excellent Water Adhesion, and Anti-Icing for Highly Efficient Oil Adsorption/Separation

Abstract

Developing highly efficient and multifunctional membranes toward oil adsorption and oil/water separation is of significance in oily wastewater treatment. Herein, a novel electrospun composite membrane with dual-scaled porous structure and nanoraised structure on each fiber was fabricated through electrospinning using biodegradable polylactide (PLA) and magnetic γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles. The PLA/γ-Fe2O3 composite membranes show high porosity (>90%), superhydrophobic and superlipophilic performances with CH2I2 contact angle of 0°, good water adhesion ability like water droplets on a petal surface, excellent anti-icing performance, and good mechanical properties with a tensile strength of 1.31 MPa and a tensile modulus of 11.65 MPa. The superlipophilicity and dual-scaled porous structure endow the composite membranes with ultrahigh oil adsorption capacity up to 268.6 g/g toward motor oil. Furthermore, the composite membranes also show high oil permeation flux up to 2925 L/m2 h under the force of gravity. Even for oil/water emulsion, the composite membranes have high separation efficiency. We expect that the PLA/γ-Fe2O3 composite membranes can be used in oily wastewater treatment under various conditions through one-off adsorption or continuous oil/water separation, especially under low environmental temperature condition.

A review on electrospun magnetic nanomaterials: methods, properties and applications

“…Additionally, a-Fe 2 O 3 also has excellent adsorption ability of heavy metal ions and organic pollutants. 88 Wang et al 44 fabricated NFs based on a-Fe 2 O 3 nanoparticles and a europium complex to achieve magnetic-photoluminescent bifunctionality. The coercivity of the sample was 327 Oe with a remanent magnetisation (M r )/M s ratio of 0.244.…”

“…Electrospun ultrathin fibres exhibit ideal characteristics such as high porosity, large surface area and diverse controllable morphologies to facilitate the development of electrospun fibrous drug delivery systems. 88,264 For example, a core-shell fibrous drug delivery system was produced by coaxial electrospinning using Eudragit S100 as the shell and a core composed of PEO loaded with Gd(DTPA) (gadolinium diethylenetriamine pentaacetate hydrate, magnetic resonance contrast agent) and indomethacin (model therapeutic agent). 265 Eudragit is insoluble in acidic environments and when used as oral medication protects the core ingredient as it passes through the stomach.…”

Facile Fabrication of Amphiphilic and Asymmetric Films with Excellent Deformability for Efficient and Stable Adsorption Applications

“…Chemical industry is typically important in our modern society, nonetheless, the occurred chemical solvent leakage accidents in technological process greatly threaten public health and environments. [ 1–6 ] General manner for solving the incidents includes dispersion, microorganisms for degradation, and combustion treatment. [ 7 ] Such reported technology, shortcomings have always existed where combustion process produces toxic smokes and does not recycle valuable reagents.…”

Multifunctional Superwetting Composite Coatings for Long‐Term Anti‐Icing, Air Purification, and Oily Water Separation

“…Superwetting surfaces, with special structure and function, have caused extensive attention to solve many thorny problems, such as self‐cleaning, [ 1,2 ] anti‐fouling, [ 3,4 ] anti‐icing, [ 5–7 ] anti‐corrosion, [ 8,9 ] drag reduction, [ 10,11 ] moisture‐proofing, [ 12 ] water harvesting, [ 13,14 ] and oil–water separation. [ 15–17 ] On the application side, however, the surfaces with nano‐ and/or micro‐meter scale structures were easily damaged by mechanical impact or deformation, resulting in functional failure. [ 18–22 ] To address this fatal drawback, most of the attention was focused on the surface abrasion resistance from rigid friction.…”