A multifunctional and environmentally safe superhydrophobic membrane with superior oil/water separation, photocatalytic degradation and anti-biofouling performance

Zuozhu Yin; Feng Yuan; Mingshan Xue; Yahui Xue; Yu Xie; Junfei Ou; Yidan Luo; Zhen Hong; Chan Xie

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2021.12.070

A multifunctional and environmentally safe superhydrophobic membrane with superior oil/water separation, photocatalytic degradation and anti-biofouling performance

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2022 Apr:611:93-104. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2021.12.070. Epub 2021 Dec 15.

Authors

Zuozhu Yin¹, Feng Yuan², Mingshan Xue³, Yahui Xue⁴, Yu Xie⁵, Junfei Ou⁶, Yidan Luo², Zhen Hong², Chan Xie²

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory for Microstructural Control of Metallic Materials of Jiangxi Province, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanchang Hangkong University, Nanchang 330063, PR China; School of Aerospace Manufacturing Engineering, Nanchang Hangkong University, 696 Fenghe South Road, Nanchang 330063, PR China.
² Key Laboratory for Microstructural Control of Metallic Materials of Jiangxi Province, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanchang Hangkong University, Nanchang 330063, PR China.
³ Key Laboratory for Microstructural Control of Metallic Materials of Jiangxi Province, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanchang Hangkong University, Nanchang 330063, PR China. Electronic address: xuems04@mails.ucas.ac.cn.
⁴ Department of Mechanics and Aerospace Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, PR China. Electronic address: xueyh@sustech.edu.cn.
⁵ College of Environment and Chemical Engineering, Nanchang Hangkong University, Nanchang 330063, PR China.
⁶ School of Materials Engineering, Jiangsu University of Technology, Changzhou 213001, PR China.

PMID: 34933194
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2021.12.070

Abstract

Wastewater is typically complicated with spilled oil, water soluble toxic dyes and microorganisms, making it hard to be processed and causing a significant threat to the environmental safety and human health. In this paper, we demonstrate a simple solution immersion method to obtain a multifunctional cellulose-based membrane (CBM) that possesses both superhydrophobicity with a water contact angle of 163° and superior functionalities including self-cleaning, oil-water separation, anti-biofouling, and photocatalytic degradation capabilities. The achievement of separation efficiency (96%), comparatively high flux (141 L·m^-2·h^-1) and recyclable (7 times) oil/water separation performance is attributed to the robust superhydrophobicity enabled by the synergy of metal oxide (i.e., CuO) nanostructure coating and stearic acid (SA) modification. The superhydrophobic CBM also preferentially adsorbs organic dyes in aqueous solution, e.g., methylene blue (MB), promoting their efficient decomposition (about 70.3% of MB decomposed in 3 h) with high recyclability under UV irradiation. Most remarkably, the CBM exhibits superior anti-biofouling capability and persistently resists the algae adhesion in long duration (over 20 days), as a result of the self-cleaning ability as well as the antimicrobial property of CuO nanoparticles. Our finding here paves the way to use simple, cost-effective, environmentally safe, and reliable method to fabricate multifunctional materials for wastewater treatment in complex environments.

Keywords: Anti-biofouling; Oil/water separation; Photocatalytic degradation; Superhydrophobic membrane; Water treatment.

MeSH terms

Biofouling* / prevention & control
Humans
Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions
Nanoparticles*
Wastewater
Water Purification*

Substances

Waste Water