%0 Journal Article
%T Dual Superlyophobic Aliphatic Polyketone Membranes for Highly Efficient Emulsified Oil¨CWater Separation: Performance and Mechanism
%J -
%D 2018
%R https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.8b09687
%X Efficient treatment of difficult emulsified oil¨Cwater wastes is a global challenge. Membranes exhibiting unusual dual superlyophobicity (combined underwater superoleophobicity and underoil superhydrophobicity) are intriguing to realize high-efficiency separation of both oil-in-water and water-in-oil emulsions. For the first time, a robust polymeric membrane demonstrating dual superlyophobicity to common apolar oils was facilely fabricated via a simple one-step phase separation process using an aliphatic polyketone (PK) polymer, thanks to a conjunction of intermediate hydrophilicity and re-entrant fibril-like texture upon the prepared PK membrane. Further chemical modification to improve surface hydrophilicity slightly can enable dual superlyophobicity to both apolar and polar oils. It is found that a nonwetting composite state of oil against water or water against oil was obtainable on the membrane surfaces only when the probe liquids possess an equilibrium contact angle (¦Èow or ¦Èwo) larger than the critical re-entrant angle of the textured surfaces (73¡ã), which can explain the existences of dual superlyophobicity and also the nonwetting to fully wetting transitions. A simple design chart was developed to map out the operational windows of material hydrophilicity and re-entrant geometry, that is, a possible zone, to help in the rational design of similar interfacial systems from various materials. Switchable filtrations of oil-in-water and water-in-oil nanoemulsions were achieved readily with both high flux and high rejection. The simplicity and scalability of the membrane preparation process and the well-elucidated underlying mechanisms illuminate the great application potential of the PK-based superwetting membranes
%U https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsami.8b09687