Durable, self-healing superhydrophobic nanofibrous membrane with self-cleaning ability for highly-efficient oily wastewater purification

It is of great significance while challenging to develop separation materials with integrated functionalities including self-healing, self-cleaning, and efficient separation capabilities for the remediation of oily wastewater and oil spills. In this work, a facile method is developed to fabricated polyimide (PI) nanofibrous membrane with self-healing superhydrophobicity. The designed membrane presents remarkable separation efficiency towards a range of oil/water mixtures and water-in-oil emulsions. Furthermore, the membrane demonstrates desirable adaptability in harsh environment due to the synergistic environmental stability of the PI membrane and polydimethylsiloxane/octadecylamine (PDMS/ODA) coating. Of particular interest is the fact that the as-prepared membrane displays outstanding self-healing and self-cleaning abilities, possessing multifunctional integration. These features make the membrane a promising separation material for efficient oil/water separation in realistic environment.