Superhydrophobic Micro/Nanostructured Copper Mesh with Self-Cleaning Property for E ective Oil/Water Separation

In this work, a simple method was carried out to successfully fabricate superoleophilic and superhydrophobic N-dodecyltrimethoxysilane@tungsten trioxide coated copper mesh. The as-fabricated copper mesh displayed prominent superoleophilicity and superhydrophobicity with a huge water contact angle about 154.39^° and oil contact angle near 0^°. Moreover, the coated copper mesh showed high separation efficiency approximately 99.3%, and huge water flux about 9962.3 L·h^-1·m^-2, which could be used to separate various organic solvents/water mixtures. Furthermore, the coated copper mesh showed favorable stability that the separation efficiency remained above 90% after 10 separation cycles. Benefiting from the excellent photocatalytic degradation ability of tungsten trioxide, the coated copper mesh possessed the self-cleaning capacity. Therefore, the mesh contaminated with lubricating oil could regain superhydrophobic property, and this property of self-cleaning permitted that the fabricated copper mesh could be repeatedly used for oil and water separation.     

超疏水超亲油玉米秸秆粉油污吸附剂的制备及其在油水分离中的应用

超疏水超亲油材料因其在油水分离等领域有广泛的应用前景而引起人们极大关注。 目前,有很多方法可以用来制备超疏水超亲油材料,但因其过程复杂、成本高、环境适应性差限制了其在实际生产、生活中应用。 本文以玉米秸秆为原料,经TiO₂ 溶胶浸涂并经辛基三甲氧基硅烷修饰后显示出超疏水和超亲油,水滴、油滴在其表面的接触角分别为160°和0°。 研究结果显示,玉米秸秆粉表面的超疏水性源于其表面微纳米复合阶层结构及低表面能化学组成的协同作用。 利用玉米秸秆粉表面的憎水性和亲油性,能将其用于水面油污的吸附和分离,具有分离效率高、稳定性好、可循环利用的优点。 相比于其它材料,以玉米秸秆为原料制备超疏水超亲油的油污吸附剂,原料丰富、成本低、过程简单、易降解、可循环利用,有望在生产、生活中得到应用。     

Antiwettability enhancement of PVDF-HFP membrane via superhydrophobic modification by SiO2 nanoparticles

Pore wetting is undesirable in the membrane gas–liquid separation process as it deteriorates the gas removal flux. To alleviate the affinity of a membrane surface toward a liquid solvent, its hydrophobicity needs to be enhanced. In this study, a superhydrophobic polyvinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene membrane was synthesized via a simple and facile nonsolvent-induced phase inversion process. Hydrophobic nano-SiO₂ particles were used as solvent additives to improve the wetting resistance of the membrane. The results revealed that blended nano-SiO₂ membranes exhibited enhanced surface hydrophobicity in terms of water contact angle. Such improvement was attributed to the enhancement of surface roughness via the formation of hierarchical multilevel protrusions. Besides, the embedment of nanoparticles in polymer spherulitic globules also contributed to the reduction in surface energy of the membrane. As a result, the blended nano-SiO₂ membrane achieved superhydrophobicity with a water contact angle of up to 151°.     

Preparation of PFSA/PSf hollow fiber composite membranes with recovered PFSA for the pervaporation separation of EtOH/H2O

Perfluorosulfonic acid/Polysulfone(PFSA/PSf) hollow fiber composite membranes have been prepared by dip-coating method using PSf ultrafiltration (UF) membrane as substrate with recovered PFSA. The composite membranes were applied to the pervaporation separation of 95% ethanol (EtOH)/H₂O mixture. SEM images show that the thickness of the PFSA skin layer of the composite membranes is about 2 μm, much thinner than those of other PFSA composite membranes revealed in the literatures. Effects of annealing temperature, coating solution concentration and counter-ions of PFSA on the pervaporation performances of the composite membranes were investigated. The total flux decreases and separation factor increases with the increase of annealing temperature. The highest permeation flux of 3230 g m^?2 h^?1 and a separation factor of 5.4 is obtained for the composite membrane annealed at 80°C. The lowest permeation flux of 396 g m^?2 h^?1 and a separation factor of 27.7 is obtained for the composite membrane annealed at 160°C. The permeation performances of the PFSA/PSf composite membrane are evidently influenced by the counter-ions of PFSA. The flux sequence of the PFSA/PSf composite membranes with different counter-ions is H⁺>Li⁺>Ca²⁺>Mg²⁺>Na⁺>K⁺>Ba²⁺>Fe³⁺>Al³⁺, and the separation factor sequence is H⁺<Li⁺<Al³⁺<Na⁺<Mg²⁺<Ca²⁺<K⁺<Ba²⁺<Fe³⁺. The apparent activation energy ΔE _app values of the composite membranes with different counter-ions were calculated by Arrhenius law. The sequence of ΔE _app values for the membranes with monovalent counter-ions is Li⁺>Na⁺>K⁺. There are very little variations of ΔE _app values between the composite membranes with three divalent counter-ions (Mg²⁺, Ca²⁺ and Ba²⁺), and the ΔE _app values of the composite membranes with two trivalent counter-ions (Fe³⁺ and Al³⁺) are relatively high.     

Selective pH gradient formation across a capsule membrane corked with charged synthetic bilayers

Ultrathin, large nylon capsules whose porous membranes were corked with charged, synthetic bilayer-forming amphiphiles (cationic, anionic, zwitterionic bilayers) were prepared. The chemically stable, bilayer-corked capsules can selectively retain 0.1 M aqueous acidic (HCl, HNO₃, H₂SO₄, HClO₄ and p-toluenesulfonic acid) and alkaline solutions (NaOH, Ba(OH)₂, NH₄ OH, and N(Et)₄OH) in the inner aqueous phase depending on the surface charge of corking bilayers: the capsule corked with positively and negatively charged bilayers could selectively store alkalies and acids, respectively, and could keep a selective pH-gradient across the membrane. The zwitterionic bilayer-corking could retain neither acids nor alkalies in the inner aqueous phase. The permeation of these acids and alkalies to the outer phase (pH gradient decreasing across the capsule membrane) could be reversibly controlled by the phase transition of corking bilayers from gel to liquid crystalline state. The selective storage and permeation of acids and alkalies could be explained by the process of permeation of H⁺ or OH^- counter ions across the charged bilayer-corking.     

Flow injection determination of peroxide value in edible oils using triiodide detector

A flow injection analysis (FIA) method for the determination of peroxide value (PV) in edible oils is described. Oil sample (undiluted) and KI reagent were aspirated into a homemade reaction chamber where the redox reaction between iodide in the aqueous phase and hydroperoxides in the oil was effected by applying a short (typically 30 s) vortex action. After allowing for the emulsified oil phase to be separated from the aqueous phase (bottom layer), an aliquot of the aqueous phase containing triiodide was next aspirated to the surface of a triiodide-selective membrane for detection. The optimized FIA procedure is linear over 0.35-28.0 PV (mequiv. O₂/kg) with a detection limit of 0.32 PV. Exhibiting good reproducibility (R.S.D. of 2.7% (n = 8) for the determination of 1.1 PV) and sampling rate of 80 samples h⁻¹, the proposed method, unlike previous FIA procedures, completely eliminated the use of organic solvents (except the use of 2-propanol for cleaning of reaction chamber). Excellent correlation (R² = 0.9949) between the proposed method and the manual official AOCS method was found when applied to the determination of PV in diverse type of edible oils (n = 20).     

Separation performance of polyimide composite membrane prepared by dip coating process

The effects of the preparation conditions in a dip coating process on polyimide composite membranes have been investigated. Polyimide precursor obtained from pyromellitic dianhidride (PMDA) and 4,4′-oxydianiline (ODA) was mixed with triethylamine and poly(amic acid)tri-ethylamine salt (PAA salt) was made. An asymmetric polyimide membrane (PI-2080) as a supporting membrane was dipped in a PAA salt (concentration 0–5 wt.%) methanol solution. The coating layers of PAA salt were converted to these of polyimide by annealing at 200°C for 3 h in an ordinary vacuum oven.The performance of the polyimide composite membrane was evaluated by gas permeation (N₂, O₂, CO₂, at 1 kg/cm²) and pervaporation (feed: a 95 vol.% ethanol aqueous solution at 30–60°C). The composite membranes prepared using a coating solution of 5 wt.% PAA salt showed the CO₂/N₂ selectivity of over 25 on gas permeation, and separation factor α (H₂O/EtOH) of over 800 with a total flux of 0.21 kg/m² h on pervaporation.     

Two‐Dimensional Metal–Organic Framework Nanosheets for Membrane‐Based Gas Separation

Metal–organic framework (MOF) nanosheets could serve as ideal building blocks of molecular sieve membranes owing to their structural diversity and minimized mass‐transfer barrier. To date, discovery of appropriate MOF nanosheets and facile fabrication of high performance MOF nanosheet‐based membranes remain as great challenges. A modified soft‐physical exfoliation method was used to disintegrate a lamellar amphiprotic MOF into nanosheets with a high aspect ratio. Consequently sub‐10 nm‐thick ultrathin membranes were successfully prepared, and these demonstrated a remarkable H₂/CO₂ separation performance, with a separation factor of up to 166 and H₂ permeance of up to 8×10⁻⁷ mol m⁻² s⁻¹ Pa⁻¹ at elevated testing temperatures owing to a well‐defined size‐exclusion effect. This nanosheet‐based membrane holds great promise as the next generation of ultrapermeable gas separation membrane.     

Properties of new inorganic membranes prepared by metal alkoxide methods Part II: New inorganic-organic anion-exchange membranes prepared by the modified metal alkoxide methods with silane coupling agents

Four types of inorganic-organic anion exchangeable membranes were prepared on a microporous alumina substrate by dipcoating with solution containing Si(OC₂H₅)₄, C₂H₅OH, H₂O, CH₃COOH, two silane coupling agents in molar ratio 1:6.8:2:0.03:0.02, and on a silica membrane by liquid-phase coupling method with two solutions containing C₆H₅CH₃, H₂O, 2-(trimethoxysilyl)ethyl-2-pyridine in molar ratio 11:0.06:0.04 or C₂H₅OH, H₂O, N-trimethoxysilylpropyl-N,N,N-trimethylammonium chloride in molar ratio 21:0.06:0.06. The alumina substrate and silica membrane showed cation exchangeability, but membranes dip-coated and liquid-phase coupled showed anion exchangeability and their ion-exchange capacity per unit area of membrane surface were in the range 4–9 × 10⁻³ meq. cm⁻². The static transport number for liquid-phase coupled membranes was in the range of 0.6–0.9, but for dip-coated membranes it was 0.5.     

Biomimetic versus enzymatic high-potential electrocatalytic reduction of hydrogen peroxide on a functionalized carbon nanotube electrode

We report the non-covalent functionalization of a multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) electrode with a biomimetic model of the horseradish peroxidase (HRP) active site. By modifying the MWCNT electrode surface with imidazole-modified polypyrrole, a new biomimetic complex of HRP was synthesized on the MWCNT sidewalls via the coordination of imidazole (Im) to the metal centre of iron protoporphyrin IX, affording (Im)(PP)Fe^III. Compared to the pi-stacking of non-coordinated (PP)Fe^III on a MWCNT electrode, the (Im)(PP)Fe^III-modified MWCNT electrode exhibits higher electrocatalytic activity with an I _max = 0.52 mA cm^–2 for the reduction of H₂O₂, accompanied by a high onset potential of 0.43 V vs. Ag/AgCl. The performances of these novel surface-confined HRP mimics were compared to those of a MWCNT electrode modified by HRP. Although the enzyme electrode displays a higher electrocatalytic activity towards H₂O₂ reduction, the (Im)(PP)Fe^III-modified MWCNT electrode exhibits a markedly higher operational stability, retaining 63% of its initial activity after one month.     

Green Approach to the Fabrication of Superhydrophobic Mesh Surface for Oil/Water Separation

We report a simple and environment friendly method to fabricate superhydrophobic metallic mesh surfaces for oil/water separation. The obtained mesh surface exhibits superhydrophobicity and superoleophilicity after it was dried in an oven at 200 °C for 10 min. A rough silver layer is formed on the mesh surface after immersion, and the spontaneous adsorption of airborne carbon contaminants on the silver surface lower the surface free energy of the mesh. No low‐surface‐energy reagents and/or volatile organic solvents are used. In addition, we demonstrate that by using the mesh box, oils can be separated and collected from the surface of water repeatedly, and that high separation efficiencies of larger than 92 % are retained for various oils. Moreover, the superhydrophobic mesh also possesses excellent corrosion resistance and thermal stability. Hence, these superhydrophobic meshes might be good candidates for the practical separation of oil from the surface of water.     

A Uniformly Oriented MFI Membrane for Improved CO2 Separation

Membrane separation of CO₂ from natural gas, biogas, synthesis gas, and flu gas is a simple and energy‐efficient alternative to other separation techniques. But results for CO₂‐selective permeance have always been achieved by randomly oriented and thick zeolite membranes. Thin, oriented membranes have great potential to realize high‐flux and high‐selectivity separation of mixtures at low energy cost. We now report a facile method for preparing silica MFI membranes in fluoride media on a graded alumina support. In the resulting membrane straight channels are uniformly vertically aligned and the membrane has a thickness of 0.5 μm. The membrane showed a separation selectivity of 109 for CO₂/H₂ mixtures and a CO₂ permeance of 51×10^?7 mol m^?2 s^?1 Pa^?1 at ?35 °C, making it promising for practical CO₂ separation from mixtures.     

Fast self-healing superhydrophobic sponge with all-weather heating and anti-fouling properties

The loss of superhydrophobicity due to mechanochemical damage is critical for superhydrophobic surfaces, and rapid self-healing is significant in maintaining surface durability. Herein, a novel, fast, self-healing superhydrophobic sponge capable of all-weather heating was polymerized in an eco-friendly aqueous system and dip-coated using fluorine-free and non-toxic reagents. Benefiting from the photothermal and Joule-heating performance of polyaniline (PANI) and multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), all-weather heating could be achieved. The equilibrium surface temperature (EST) of the as-prepared sponge could rapidly reach 105°C under irradiation of 1.0 kW/m² for 20 s, and the EST exceeded 120°C with supplementary 18 V treatment. Impressively, after O₂ plasma etching for 1 min or after being immersed in hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) solution for 24 h, the water contact angle (WCA) of self-healing superhydrophobic polyurethane (PU) sponge (SHSPS) can be restored to 155°C under simulated sunlight for 2 min because of the rapid migration of low surface energy polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) chains, which is the fastest recovery achieved to the best of our knowledge. In addition, the modified sponge exhibited a significant antifouling capability for particulate contaminants and organic pollutants, extending service life. Our preliminary results demonstrated that the modified sponge prepared in the current work is fully qualified in multiple applications, including oil-water separation, viscous oil treatment, seawater evaporation and desalination, de-icing, and anti-icing.     

Effect of environmental conditions on 109Cd(II) sorption to MnO2

The sorption of Cd(II) from aqueous solution on MnO₂ was investigated under ambient conditions. Experiments were carried out as a function of contact time, solid content, pH, ionic strength, foreign ions, fulvic acid and temperature. The results indicated that the sorption of Cd(II) was strongly dependent on pH and ionic strength. At low pH, the sorption of Cd(II) was dominated by outer-sphere surface complexation and ion exchange with Na⁺/H⁺ on MnO₂ surfaces, whereas inner-sphere surface complexation was the main sorption mechanism at high pH. The Langmuir, Freundlich and Dubinin–Radushkevich models were used to simulate the sorption isotherms at three different temperatures. The thermodynamic data (ΔG ⁰, ΔS ⁰, ΔH ⁰) calculated from the temperature dependent sorption isotherms suggested that the sorption of Cd(II) on MnO₂ was an spontaneous and endothermic process.     

Biomimetic Nanocones that Enable High Ion Permselectivity

Artificial counterparts of conical‐shaped transmembrane protein channels are of interest in biomedical sciences for biomolecule detection and selective ion permeation based on ionic size and/or charge differences. However, industrial‐scale applications such as seawater desalination, separation of mono‐ from divalent cations, and treatment of highly‐saline industrial waste effluents are still big challenges for such biomimetic channels. A simple monomer seeding experimental approach is used to grow ionically conductive biomimetic charged nanocone pores at the surface of an acid‐functionalized membrane. These readily scalable nanocone membranes enable ultra‐fast cation permeation (Na⁺=8.4× vs. Mg²⁺=1.4×) and high ion charge selectivity (Na⁺/Mg²⁺=6×) compared to the commercial state‐of‐the‐art permselective membrane (CSO, Selemion, Japan) owing to negligible surface resistance and positively charged conical pore walls.     

IR spectra of aqueous disperse systems adsorbed atmospheric gases: 1. Nitrogen

Spectral characteristics of (H₂O) _i , N₂(H₂O) _i , and (N₂)₂(H₂O) _i cluster systems, where 10≤i≤50, are studied in the 0 ≤ ε ≤ 3500 cm^?1 frequency range with the molecular dynamics method on the basis of a flexible molecule model. After nitrogen is captured by an aqueous disperse system, the absorption of the IR radiation by this system increases owing to the enhancement of intramolecular vibrations. In general, the reflection of the outer IR radiation by nitrated aqueous disperse systems is attenuated; however, when the nitrogen concentration increases twofold, there is a tendency toward an increase in the fraction of reflected radiation. As the nitrogen concentration in a system of water clusters rises, the power of radiation emitted by the system increases significantly and the number of electrons interacting with the outer IR radiation decreases.     

Continuous Porous Aromatic Framework Membranes with Modifiable Sites for Optimized Gas Separation

Continuous microporous membranes are widely studied for gas separation, due to their low energy premium and strong molecular specificity. Porous aromatic frameworks (PAFs) with their exceptional stability and structural flexibility are suited to a wide range of separations. Main-stream PAF-based membranes are usually prepared with polymeric matrices, but their discrete entities and boundary defects weaken their selectivity and permeability. The synthesis of continuous PAF membranes is still a major challenge because PAFs are insoluble. Herein, we successfully synthesized a continuous PAF membrane for gas separation. Both pore size and chemistry of the PAF membrane were modified by ion-exchange, resulting in good selectivity and permeance for the gas mixtures H₂/N₂ and CO₂/N₂. The membrane with Br^? as a counter ion in the framework exhibited a H₂/N₂ selectivity of 72.7 with a H₂ permeance of 51844 gas permeation units (GPU). When the counter ions were replaced by BF₄^?, the membrane showed a CO₂ permeance of 23058 GPU, and an optimized CO₂/N₂ selectivity of 60.0. Our results show that continuous PAF membranes with modifiable pores are promising for various gas separation situations.     

Separation of 99mTc from 99Mo by Using TOPO — Kerosene Supported Liquid Membrane

Transport of ^99mTcO₄ ^– ions across TOPO-kerosene based supported liquid membrane was investigated at different concentrations of phosphoric acid as a feed solution and different concentrations of TOPO in the membrane, where 0.9% NaCl aqueous solution was used as a stripping solution. The flux of TcO₄ ^– ions across this liquid membrane varied with the concentration of both H₃PO₄ and TOPO. The best permeability coefficient was obtained at concentrations, [H₃PO₄] = 3 mole·l^–1 and [TOPO] = 0.5 mole·l^–1 (P = 2.08·10^–9 m²·s^–1). The results were utilized for the separation of ^99mTc from ⁹⁹Mo, where a selective and effective separation was obtained since no ⁹⁹Mo transport across this liquid membrane was noticed while a high rate of ^99mTc transport took place.     

Nonisothermal membrane phenomena across perfluorosulfonic acid-type membranes,Flemion S: part I. Thermoosmosis and transported entropy of water

Solvent transports across the perfluorosulfonic acid-type membrane Flemion S were measured for aqueous electrolyte solutions under a temperature difference and under an osmotic pressure difference. H⁺, Li⁺, Na⁺, K⁺, NH ₄ ⁺ , CH₃NH ₃ ⁺ , (CH₃)₂NH ₂ ⁺ , (CH₃)₃NH⁺, (CH₃)₄N⁺, (C₂H₅)₄N⁺, (n-C₃H₇)₄N⁺ and (n-C₄H₉)₄N⁺ were used as counterions. Water flux across the membrane in HCl solution is higher than that in the other electrolyte solutions because hydrogen ions can exchange with the hydrogen of the neighbor water molecules and contribute to the water transport across the membrane as a proton jump in conductivity. The direction of thermoosmosis across the membrane in HCl, NaCl, (CH₃)₄NCl and (C₂H₅)₄NCl solutions was from the cold side to the hot side and that in LiCl, KCl, NH₄Cl, CH₃NH₃Cl, (CH₃)₂NH₂Cl and (n-C₄H₉)₄NBr solutions was from the hot side to the cold side, although thermoosmosis across anion-exchange membranes always occurs toward the hot side.     

Superwetting Patterned Membranes with an Anisotropy/Isotropy Transition: Towards Signal Expression and Liquid Permeation

Superwetting membranes with responsive properties have attracted heightened attention because of their fine‐tunable surface wettability. However, their functional diversity is severely limited by the “black‐or‐white” wettability transition. Herein, we describe a coating strategy to fabricate multifunctional responsive superwetting membranes with SiO₂/octadecylamine patterns. The adjustable patterns in the responsive region are the key factor for functional diversity. Specifically, the coated part of the membrane displayed a superhydrophobicity/superhydrophilicity transition at different pH values, whereas the uncoated part exhibited invariant superhydrophilicity. On the basis of this anisotropy/isotropy transition, the membranes can serve as either responsive permeable membranes or signal‐expression membranes, thus enabling the responsive separation and permeation of liquids with satisfactory separation efficiency (>99.90 %) and flux (ca. 60 L m^?2 h), as well as real‐time liquid signal expression with alterable signals.