An alternative fabrication of underoil superhydrophobic or underwater superoleophobic stainless steel meshes for oil-water separation: Originating from one-step vapor deposition of polydimethylsiloxane

• Published in: Separation and purification technology 2018-10, Vol.204, p.116-126
• Main Authors: Wen, Ni, Miao, Xinrui, Yang, Xiaojun, Long, Mengying, Deng, Wanshun, Zhou, Qiannan, Deng, Wenli
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alternative; Oil-water separation; Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS); Underoil superhydrophobicity; Underwater superoleophobicity; Vapor deposition
• ISSN: 1383-5866; 1873-3794
• DOI: 10.1016/j.seppur.2018.04.059

[Display omitted] •Underoil superhydrophobic or underwater superoleophobic meshes were fabricated by vapor deposition of PDMS.•These two types of meshes were used for selectively oil-water mixtures separation.•These two types of meshes still take effects under extreme environmental conditions. Considerable interest has been motivated in the study of oil-water separation by developing new materials and technologies. Here, we demonstrated a simple and effective method to separate oil-water mixtures using the prepared stainless steel meshes by vapor deposition of liquid state polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). By changing the heating temperature, underoil superhydrophobic stainless steel meshes and underwater superoleophobic stainless steel meshes can be alternatively achieved. The former is used for heavy oil-water mixtures separation after oil prewetting, while the latter is utilized to separate light oil-water mixtures after water prewetting. As a result, a variety of light or heavy oil-water mixtures could be separated with the efficiency above 99.0%. The separation efficiency maintains high even after 60 separation cycles. In addition, these two types of meshes still take effects under severe environmental situation when they are employed to separate oils from strong acidic, alkaline, salt aqueous solutions, and hot or ice water.