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Durable anti-oil-fouling superhydrophilic membranes for oil-in-water emulsion separation

  • Sida Fu , Yaling Xu , Hongbo Wang , Fengxin Sun , Jianrong He , Zhigang Liu , Zhiguang Xu EMAIL logo , Hongxia Wang and Tong Lin EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: June 24, 2021
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Journal of Polymer Engineering
From the journal Journal of Polymer Engineering Volume 41 Issue 8

Abstract

Marine mussel-inspired polydopamine (PDA) coatings show excellent hydrophilicity and substrate-independent adhesion ability, but low stability, especially in a harsh environment such as strong acid or strong base, significantly restricts their applications. In this work, we prepare a novel superhydrophilic and underwater superoleophobic coating based on a modified PDA. Diglycidyl resorcinol ether (DGRE) polyethyleneimine (PEI) and iron ions were incorporated into PDA to strengthen the cross-linking and coating durability. By using three chemically inert hydrophobic membranes, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), poly(vinylidene fluoride), and polypropylene, as substrates, we showed that PDA/PEI/DGRE-coated membranes had a water contact angle (CA) of 0° and underwater oil CA above 157°, and their underwater oil SAs were <7°. The coating is durable against both physical and chemical damages including ultrasound and heat treatments, as well as acid/alkaline etching. After ultrasound treatment in water for 60 min, and heating treatment for 3 h, or acid/alkaline etching for 3 h, the coated PTFE membrane still showed water CAs of ∼0° in air and underwater oil CAs of ∼150°. The coated membranes can efficiently separate oil-in-water emulsions, even in strong acid and base environments. The water flux was above 1500 L m−2 h−1, and the oil rejection was above 99%.

Keywords: durable; epoxide; iron ion; polydopamine; superhydrophilic
Corresponding authors: Zhiguang Xu, China-Australia Institute for Advanced Materials and Manufacturing, Jiaxing University, Jiaxing 314001, China; and College of Biological, Chemical Sciences and Engineering, Jiaxing University, Jiaxing 314001, China, E-mail: ; and Tong Lin, Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC 3216, Australia, E-mail:

Funding source: Qianjiang Talent Plan of Zhejiang Province

Award Identifier / Grant number: QJD1902018

Funding source: Australian Research Council

Award Identifier / Grant number: DP190100306

  1. Author contributions: All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.

  2. Research funding: This research was funded by the Qianjiang Talent Plan of Zhejiang Province (no. QJD1902018) and Australian Research Council through a discovery project (ARC DP190100306).

  3. Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding this article.

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Supplementary Material

The online version of this article offers supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.1515/polyeng-2021-0111).

Received: 2021-04-07
Accepted: 2021-05-22
Published Online: 2021-06-24
Published in Print: 2021-09-27

© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Material properties
  3. Investigation of the silica pore size effect on the performance of polysulfone (PSf) mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) for gas separation
  4. Understanding thermal and rheological behaviors of bimodal polymethyl methacrylate (BPMMA) fabricated via solution blending
  5. Kinetic study of the pyrolysis of polypropylene over natural clay
  6. Investigation of morphology and transport properties of Na+ ion conducting PMMA:PEO hybrid polymer electrolyte
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  8. Designing of new hydrophilic polyurethane using the graft-polymerized poly(acrylic acid) and poly(2-(dimethylamino)ethyl acrylate)
  9. Water-soluble polymeric particle embedded cryogels: Synthesis, characterisation and adsorption of haemoglobin
  10. Durable anti-oil-fouling superhydrophilic membranes for oil-in-water emulsion separation
  11. A facile route to dual-crosslinking polymeric hydrogels with enhanced mechanical property
  12. Antifouling enhancement of polyacrylonitrile-based membrane grafted with poly(sulfobetaine methacrylate) layers
  13. Engineering and processing
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https://doi.org/10.1515/polyeng-2021-0111
Keywords for this article
durable; epoxide; iron ion; polydopamine; superhydrophilic

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Material properties
  3. Investigation of the silica pore size effect on the performance of polysulfone (PSf) mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) for gas separation
  4. Understanding thermal and rheological behaviors of bimodal polymethyl methacrylate (BPMMA) fabricated via solution blending
  5. Kinetic study of the pyrolysis of polypropylene over natural clay
  6. Investigation of morphology and transport properties of Na+ ion conducting PMMA:PEO hybrid polymer electrolyte
  7. Preparation and assembly
  8. Designing of new hydrophilic polyurethane using the graft-polymerized poly(acrylic acid) and poly(2-(dimethylamino)ethyl acrylate)
  9. Water-soluble polymeric particle embedded cryogels: Synthesis, characterisation and adsorption of haemoglobin
  10. Durable anti-oil-fouling superhydrophilic membranes for oil-in-water emulsion separation
  11. A facile route to dual-crosslinking polymeric hydrogels with enhanced mechanical property
  12. Antifouling enhancement of polyacrylonitrile-based membrane grafted with poly(sulfobetaine methacrylate) layers
  13. Engineering and processing
  14. Non-isothermal blade coating analysis of viscous fluid with temperature-dependent viscosity using lubrication approximation theory
  15. In-mold lightweight integrating for structural/functional devices
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