Sandwiched meshes with superwettability for oil/water separation and heavy metal ion absorption

Abstract

Oil/water separation and heavy metal ion adsorptions have become a worldwide challenge due to the global industrial development and its indiscriminate discharge. Large numbers of methods have been developed to solve the problems, among which using superwettability material to selective separation is one of an efficient approach. However, this method cannot adsorb the heavy metal ions from water. Herein, we developed superwettability meshes that can not only separate oil/water after modification but also adsorb heavy metal ions before modification, which is just sandwiching an adsorbent layer between the meshes. The results showed that this method can separate most of oil/water mixtures with high efficiency (higher than 95%) as well as favorable recyclability. Besides, it can separate oil/water emulsion easily. In addition, the carbon layer between the meshes can adsorb heavy metal ions such as Ni(II), Cr(VI) (in the form of Cr 2 O 7 2−), and Cd(II) with high adsorption efficiency. More importantly, the carbon layer can be replaced by any other powers such as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and magnetic particle to extend the applications. We believe that such a novel and simple approach can provide some new perspectives to settle the environmental problems.

Low‐temperature silane coupling agent modified biomimetic micro/nanoscale roughness hierarchical structure superhydrophobic polyethylene terephthalate filter media

“…The BRHS of the superhydrophobic P‐Filter material exposed to high humidity for a long time during actual use and can easily wear, the mechanical stability played a vital role in the actual industry. Therefore, the mechanical stability of the P‐Filter media was further investigated 43–45 . As shown in Figure S2A, the wear test was conducted with self‐made equipment.…”

“…Therefore, the mechanical stability of the P-Filter media was further investigated. [43][44][45] As shown in Figure S2A, the wear test was conducted with self-made equipment. The TMK@PET-4 filter material sample (2.5 cm  2.5 cm) was placed on 800-mesh sandpaper with a mass of 100 g. Finally, the sample was pulled along the ruler at the speed of 1 cm/s for 10 cm distance, and this process was defined as one cycle.…”