Thermo‐Driven Controllable Emulsion Separation by a Polymer‐Decorated Membrane with Switchable Wettability |
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| Authors: | Dr Weifeng Zhang Dr Na Liu Dr Qingdong Zhang Dr Ruixiang Qu Dr Yanan Liu Dr Xiangyu Li Prof Yen Wei Prof Lin Feng Prof Lei Jiang |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing, P. R. China;2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Qingdao University, Qingdao, P. R. China;3. Key Laboratory of Bio-inspired Smart Interface Sciences, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China |
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| Abstract: | A thermoresponsive Poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm)‐modified nylon membrane was fabricated via hydrothermal route. Combining rough structure, proper pore size, and thermoresponsive wettability, the membrane can separate at least 16 types of stabilized oil‐in‐water and water‐in‐oil emulsions at different temperatures. Below the LCST (ca. 25 °C), the material exhibits hydrophilicity and underwater superoleophobicity, which can be used for the separation of various kinds of oil‐in‐water emulsions. Above the LCST (ca. 45 °C), the membrane shows the opposite property with high hydrophobicity and superoleophilicity, and it can then separate stabilized water‐in‐oil emulsions. The material exhibits excellent recyclability and high separation efficiency for various kinds of emulsions and the hydrothermal method is facile and low‐cost. The membrane shows good potential in real situations such as on‐demand oil‐spill cleanup, industrial wastewater treatment, remote operation of oil/water emulsion separation units, and fuel purification. |
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| Keywords: | emulsion separation hydrothermal synthesis materials science special wettability thermo-responsive polymer |
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