Caffeic acid polymer rapidly modified sponge with excellent anti-oil-adhesion property and efficient separation of oil-in-water emulsions

Huicai Wang; Feng Gao; Ruili Ren; Zhenwen Wang; Ruirui Yue; Junfu Wei; Xiaolei Wang; Zhiyun Kong; Huan Zhang; Xiaoqing Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.124197

Caffeic acid polymer rapidly modified sponge with excellent anti-oil-adhesion property and efficient separation of oil-in-water emulsions

J Hazard Mater. 2021 Feb 15;404(Pt B):124197. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.124197. Epub 2020 Oct 7.

Authors

Huicai Wang¹, Feng Gao², Ruili Ren³, Zhenwen Wang², Ruirui Yue³, Junfu Wei³, Xiaolei Wang², Zhiyun Kong², Huan Zhang², Xiaoqing Zhang⁴

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Separation Membranes and Membrane Processes, Tiangong University, Tianjin 300387, China; School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Tiangong University, Tianjin 300387, China. Electronic address: wanghuicai@tiangong.edu.cn.
² State Key Laboratory of Separation Membranes and Membrane Processes, Tiangong University, Tianjin 300387, China; School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tiangong University, Tianjin 300387, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Separation Membranes and Membrane Processes, Tiangong University, Tianjin 300387, China; School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Tiangong University, Tianjin 300387, China.
⁴ Research Center of Modern Analysis Technology, Tianjin University of Science & Technology, Tianjin 300457, China. Electronic address: zhangxiaoqing@tust.edu.cn.

PMID: 33091695
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.124197

Abstract

The efficient treatment of high stability emulsion with small diameter and the prevention of oil contamination of materials are serious issues in the process of emulsion separation. In order to address those issues, we reported a fast and versatile hydrophilic surface coating technology that uses oxidants and diamines to synergistically promote the polymerization of caffeic acid (CA). It was found that amino groups can not only accelerate the polymerization of CA, but also promote the deposition of polymers on the sponge surface. Using silica nanoparticles to improve the roughness, superhydrophilic melamine sponge could be prepared, which exhibited excellent superhydrophlic-underwater superolephobic and anti-oil-adhesion properties. DFT simulation was employed to explore the potential mechanism of the anti-oil adhesion ability. In addition, combined with the mechanical compression strategy, the sponge exhibited a high efficiency of 99.10% with a permeation flux of 19080 ± 700 Lm^-2 h^-¹ in emulsion separation just under the action of gravity. Moreover, based on the interaction between the surfactant and the surface of the material, the separation mechanism was discussed. Overall, this work provided an advanced method for the preparation of superhydrophilic sponge with anti-oil-fouling performance, which showed great potential in dealing with practically challenging emulsified wastewater.

Keywords: Ammonia; Anti-oil-fouling; Caffeic acid polymer; Emulsion separation; Underwater Superoleophobic.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't