Superhydrophilic, underwater superoleophobic and self-cleaning nickel composite mesh via simultaneous acid etching and in-situ growth of Prussian blue analogue for oil-water separation

Nowadays, water is a growing challenge for all countries. Remarkably, water pollution caused by the oil spill has been the major environmental issue, which seriously threatens ecological balance. Therefore, it is very important to search some available materials prepared through simple methods for treatment of oily wastewater. Here, a kind of superhydrophilic and underwater superoleophobic Fe(III)[email protected]@Ni mesh was successfully prepared through in-situ growth and coating sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC-Na), which achieved simultaneous acid etching and in-situ growth of Prussian blue analogue (PBA) on the surface of Ni mesh. This modification method not only simplified the preparation process but also built an ideal ordered structure on the surface of Ni mesh. Meanwhile, this composite Ni mesh displayed high water flux of 180,000 L m−2 h−1 with an efficiency of more than 99.0% under gravitational force. At the same time, Fe(III)[email protected]@Ni mesh presented outstanding self-cleaning performance for methylene blue (MB) degradation in wastewater. Moreover, the composite mesh exhibited outstanding stability, durability, acid-alkaline resistance, and salt resistance, which showed the potential application value in practical oil-water separation.