Efficient photocatalysis improves the self-cleaning property of the superwetting nanofibrous membrane toward emulsified oily wastewater

Filtration membranes with remarkable antifouling performance and photocatalytic degradation have become a focus of research in oily wastewater purification. However, the inefficient catalysts coating on the polymer-based membranes limit their performance optimization. Hence, a photocatalytic self-cleaning PAN/PEI nanofibrous membrane coated by FeCu-LDH/GO heterojunction structure was successfully fabricated for the first time by simple electrospinning and hydrothermal method. The synergy of the hierarchical FeCu-LDH/GO heterojunction structures and hydrophilic constituents with splendid hydration capacity enables the prepared membrane to have a robust and super oil-repelling hydration barrier, so endowing the membrane outstanding self-cleaning performance and satisfactory surfactant-stabilized oil-water emulsion separation performance (Permeation flux >2100 L m−2 h−1; separation efficiency: 99.2%). In addition, the membrane can rapidly in-situ degrade methylene blue (MB) with H2O2 to 95.2% in 30 min under visible-light irradiation. More importantly, the prepared membrane can simultaneously purify mixed simulated wastewater high-efficiently with flux recovery ratio (FRR) as high as 96.3% after photocatalytic decontamination. In a word, the membrane exhibits sustainable photocatalytic ability to degrade dyes, self-cleaning and chemical solvent resistance, proving huge potential application in oily wastewater treatment and water remediation.