Issue 34, 2020

Superhydrophobic graphene-coated sponge with microcavities for high efficiency oil-in-water emulsion separation

Abstract

Materials for emulsion separation with low pressure, high flux and high stability are of great interest in the treatment of oily wastewater. Herein, we report a facile strategy for the fabrication of PDMS and graphene coated melamine sponge (PG-MS), which can efficiently separate oil-in-water emulsions. In PG-MS, melamine sponge (MS) provides a three-dimensional porous structure, graphene constructs hydrophobic microcavities, and PDMS enhances the hydrophobic property of the material, forming a superhydrophobic material. The PG-MS shows high flux (experimentally 10 000 L m−2 h−1, and the effective flux increases with the thickness of the filter layer), high separation efficiency (oil content of the filtered water ∼4.7 mg L−1 can be discharged directly, with oil separation efficiency >99%), low pressure (applied to overcome water's gravity), and high stability (no obvious change in 20 cycles). Our study indicates that PG-MS has a wide range of applications in oil-in-water emulsion separation in industry and environmental sciences.

Graphical abstract: Superhydrophobic graphene-coated sponge with microcavities for high efficiency oil-in-water emulsion separation

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
29 iyn 2020
Accepted
30 iyl 2020
First published
01 avq 2020

Nanoscale, 2020,12, 17812-17820

Superhydrophobic graphene-coated sponge with microcavities for high efficiency oil-in-water emulsion separation

L. Han, H. Bi, X. Xie, S. Su, P. Mao and L. Sun, Nanoscale, 2020, 12, 17812 DOI: 10.1039/D0NR04892E

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