Fabrication of superhydrophobic electrospun polyimide nanofibers modified with polydopamine and polytetrafluoroethylene nanoparticles for oil–water separation

Abstract

The oil-water separation technologies of removing oil pollutants from water in an efficient and economical way is a challenge. The current methods used for oil-water separation suffer many shortcomings, including a low separation efficiency, complex separation equipment, high operation costs, and secondary pollution. In this study, we fabricated a highly flexible, high-intensity, quite stable superhydrophobic and superoleophilic polyimide (PI) nanofibrous membranes, which are much more efficient and cost efficient for oil-water separation by modifying the membranes with a polydopamine (PDA) solution and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) dispersion. The fabricated membrane (PDA-PTFE-PI) possesses both the high tensile stress of PI and the superhydrophobic and superlipophilic properties of the PDA-PTFE coating. The modified membrane could separate various oil-water mixtures efficiently at a high flux (6000 LÁm −2 Áh −1 ) and an extremely high efficiency (>99%). Furthermore, even when the membrane was under an extremely hostile environment (with an ultrahigh temperature, strong acidity, or strong basicity), it still remained quickly stable with a good separation efficiency and recyclability after 10 cycles. We anticipate that our study will provide a new technology for the highly efficient mass production of oil-water mixture management.

Multilayered Bio-Based Electrospun Membranes: A Potential Porous Media for Filtration Applications

“…Furthermore, the biofouling issues are another drawback of electrospun membranes. Several approaches such as nanomaterial incorporation (Vijay Kumar et al, 2019), as well as surface chemistry manipulation or using bio-based polymers (Liu Z. et al, 2019;Lv et al, 2019;Zhu et al, 2019), have been investigated to address the aforementioned shortcomings. Multilayered electrospun membranes have been proposed to facilitate the combination of electrospun nanofibers with bio-based nanoparticles and nanowhiskers to overcome such obstacles (Qin and Wang, 2008).…”

Assembly of Polyacrylamide-Sodium Alginate-Based Organic-Inorganic Hydrogel with Mechanical and Adsorption Properties

“…Currently, rapid industrialization has created a multitude of pollutants to the environment [1,2,3,4]. Among the hazardous wastes, heavy metal pollution has become one of the most serious problems [2].…”

Multifunctional Applications of Blow-Spinning Setaria viridis Structured Fibrous Membranes in Water Purification

“…In recent years, superhydrophilic/underwater superoleophobic fibrous membranes for oil/water separation, which has high repellency to oil droplets and makes water pass smoothly, have attracted much attention. However, the reported membrane materials still have some problems, such as poor emulsion separation efficiency, low permeate flux, easy contamination, and limited use conditions. − Therefore, it is urgent to prepare an oil–water/emulsion separation material with excellent separation efficiency, permeability, and stability.…”