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. 2023 Jul 14;15(14):3042.
doi: 10.3390/polym15143042.

Preparation of Superhydrophilic/Underwater Superoleophobic and Superhydrophobic Stainless Steel Meshes Used for Oil/Water Separation

Yu-Ping Zhang  1   2 , Ya-Ning Wang  2 , Hong-Li Du  1 , Ling-Bo Qv  2 , Jun Chen  2   3
Affiliations

Preparation of Superhydrophilic/Underwater Superoleophobic and Superhydrophobic Stainless Steel Meshes Used for Oil/Water Separation

Yu-Ping Zhang et al. Polymers (Basel). .

Abstract

Robust membrane materials with high efficiency have attracted extensive attention in oil/water separation. In this work, carbon particles via candle combustion were firstly adsorbed on the surface of stainless steel meshes (SSMs), which formed a thin hydrophobic coating, and a rough structure was then constructed through chemical vapor deposition and high temperature calcination, with the resultant SSM surface wrapped with uniform silica coating possessing the characteristic of superoleophobicity underwater. Scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) were used to characterize the modified SSMs. The prepared SSMs were superhydrophilic in air, and they had superoleophobicity underwater (157.4°). The separation efficiency of five oil/water mixtures was above 98.8%, and the separation flux was 46,300 L·m-2·h-1. After it was immersed in 1 mol/L NaOH, 1 mol/L HCl and 3.5 wt% NaCl for 24 h, respectively, the efficiency was still above 97.3%. Further immersion in the solution of dopamine and octadecylamine resulted in the transformation of superhydrophililc/superoleophobicity-underwater SSMs to superhydrophobic SSMs, and the resultant SSMs with reverse surface wettability was also used for the oil/water separation with good separation efficiency and separation flux.

Keywords: chemical vapor deposition; oil/water separation; stainless steel mesh; superhydrophobicity; underwater superoleophobicity.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Preparation process of superhydrophilic/underwater superoleophobic SSMs and superhydrophobic SSMs.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Pristine SSM (a); soot deposited layer (b); SSM after different CVD time of 16 h/24 h/36 h and calcination (c,d,f); silica coating at high magnification (e).
Figure 3
Figure 3
(a) EDS spectra of original SSM; (b) EDS spectra of SiO2 loaded SSM; (c) Element Mapping spectra of SiO2 loaded stainless steel mesh; (d1) XPS spectra of original SSM and SiO2 loaded SSM, (d2) O 1s peak fitting image, and (d3) Si 2P peak fitting image.
Figure 4
Figure 4
WCA on the pristine SSM in the air (a); UWOCA of octane on the pristine SSM (b); UWOCA of octane on the SiO2/SSM (c); and CA of octane on the SiO2/SSM in the air (d).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Oil (n-octane)/water separation process: (a) before separation; (b) in separation; (c) end of separation.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Separation efficiency and membrane flux of different oil/water mixtures by SiO2/SSM-1.
Figure 7
Figure 7
The images of superhydrophobic SSWs (SiO2/SSM-2).
Figure 8
Figure 8
Separation efficiency and membrane flux of different oil/water mixtures by SiO2/SSM-2.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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