Issue 18, 2013

A novel zwitterionic polyelectrolyte grafted PVDF membrane for thoroughly separating oil from water with ultrahigh efficiency

Abstract

Oil–water separation is a worldwide challenge because of increasingly oily wastewater, as well as frequent oil spill accidents. We report in this work the fabrication of a zwitterionic polyelectrolyte brush (poly(3-(N-2-methacryloxyethyl-N,N-dimethyl) ammonatopropanesultone), abbreviated as PMAPS)-grafted poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PMAPS-g-PVDF) membrane via a surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP) technique for separating oil from water. By tuning polymerization time, a superhydrophilic and underwater superoleophobic PMAPS-g-PVDF membrane was successfully prepared. The membrane can be applied for thoroughly separating dispersed oil from water with ultrahigh separation efficiency >99.999% in terms of rejection coefficient. The oil contents after one-time separation of a selection of oil–water mixtures are all less than 10 ppm and some of them are even lower than 2 ppm. These values are much lower than the standard minimum requirements of the international regulations for wastewater discharging. The oil-adhesion force between an oil droplet and the membrane surface was measured to be less than 1 μN. Due to the ultralow oil adhesion, the membrane exhibits an excellent antifouling property to oil and is easily recyclable.

Graphical abstract: A novel zwitterionic polyelectrolyte grafted PVDF membrane for thoroughly separating oil from water with ultrahigh efficiency

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
21 Dec 2012
Accepted
06 Mar 2013
First published
06 Mar 2013

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2013,1, 5758-5765

A novel zwitterionic polyelectrolyte grafted PVDF membrane for thoroughly separating oil from water with ultrahigh efficiency

Y. Zhu, F. Zhang, D. Wang, X. F. Pei, W. Zhang and J. Jin, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2013, 1, 5758 DOI: 10.1039/C3TA01598J

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements