Superamphiphilic stainless steel mesh for oil/water emulsion separation on-demand

Abstract Smart separation membranes have attracted widespread attention because of the complex and diverse oily wastewater in various industries. However, smart separation membranes, such as smart response membranes and Janus membranes, have problems such as tedious preparation process and excessive use of organic solvents and toxic modifiers, which restrict their practical applications. In this work, with a substrate of stainless steel mesh (SSM), a superamphiphilic SSM-Cu(OH)2 membrane with adaptable wettability is prepared by a simple electrochemical method. The whole process is carried out in an all-water system with mild reaction conditions. Compared with other separation membrane preparation methods, this electrochemical method has the advantages of high atom utilization, simple steps, time saving, low energy consumption, and no organic solvents. It is an economical, green and environmentally friendly production method. Furthermore, the SSM-Cu(OH)2 membrane with adaptable wettability can realize the on-demand separation of oil-in-water emulsion and water-in-oil emulsion based only on its own nature of the feed.