Dopamine-decorated lotus leaf-like PVDF/TiO2 membrane with underwater superoleophobic for highly efficient oil-water separation

Oil and organic pollutants removal becomes an efficient solution to dispose of industrial oily and textile dye wastewater. This study proposes a lotus leaf-like bionic nanofibrous membrane with underwater superoleophobic for highly efficient oil-water separation. Papillary structure of the bionic membrane is formed by electrospraying of PVDF and TiO2 solutions on the surface of beaded-structure PVDF/TiO2 membrane. Dopamine is then decorated on the resultant PVDF/TiO2 membrane by in situ polymerization to be with hydrophilic-underwater oleophobic property for highly efficient oil-water separation. This bionic membrane has > 99 % oil-water separation efficiency, and high flux of 1389 ± 67 L m−2 h−1. Its contact angle of underwater petroleum ether and dichlomethane reaches 155° and 152°, respectively. Moreover, it has excellent water transport capacity, photocatalytic property, as well as high separation efficiency and flux even after 5-cycle filtration. This bionic nanofibrous membrane will become a promising candidate in clean production, industrial oil/water separation, water purification and efficient liquid transmission.