WO3·H2O micro-flowers decorated PVDF/Ti3C2 MXene membrane for oily wastewater treatment

Purification of the complex wastewater mandates the fabrication of multi-functional membranes that can separate oil from emulsions and remove dangerous organic contaminants. Herein, we developed a new PVDF/Ti3C2/WO3·H2O fibrous membrane through the hydrothermal growth of WO3·H2O micro-flowers onto the porous PVDF/Ti3C2 electrospun mats. WO3·H2O micro-flowers showed similar growth spanning Ti3C2 MXene sheets having good interfacial contact, which regulated the wettability and enhanced the charge separation needed for boosting photo-reactivity. The fibrous PVDF/Ti3C2/WO3·H2O membrane displayed minimal oil adhesion, superhydrophilicity, and sustained underwater superoleophobic characteristics with outstanding separation effectiveness (∼99 %) and reusable nature. Notably, membrane had the ability to successfully saturate a wide variety of oil/water emulsions with a permeation flow of 1431–1542 L.m- 2.h- 1. The composite membrane is 39 times more efficient than PVDF/Ti3C2 electrospun membrane with regard to RhB degradation (∼91 %) and has good recyclability and refreshing behaviour under LED light irradiation. Such bi-functional materials with outstanding oil/water emulsion separation and photocatalytic degradation properties pave the way for treating complex oily wastewater. The present study presents a scalable method for fabricating metal-oxide-based multi-functional membranes utilising 2D MXene.