Nanocomposite Deposited Membrane for Oil-in-Water Emulsion Separation with in Situ Removal of Anionic Dyes and Surfactants

The decontamination of various pollutants including oils, organic dyes, and surfactants from water is an unprecedented issue throughout the world. A facile filtration process for in situ multifunctional water purification by employing a low-cost and easy-made catechol-polyethylenimine (PEI) nanocomposite deposited membrane has been designed. In combination with the intrinsic hydrophilicity of amino-rich groups, the resultant membrane possesses superhydrophilicity and underwater superoleophobicity, which is simultaneously advantageous for capturing anionic pollutants due to the electrostatic interaction. Such membrane can be successfully used for sundry surfactant-stabilized oil-in-water emulsions separation and pH-controllable removal of water-soluble dyes and the remaining surfactants at the same time. The excellent characteristics, i.e., fabrication protocol that is easy to scale up, better alkaline resistance, selectively controllable removal ability of anionic dyes, and surfactants with unaltered adsorption performance over 30 consecutive adsorption-desorption-washing cycles, will facilitate its versatility and practicability in environmental remediation and wastewater purification.