Facile Approach to Fabricate a High-Performance Superhydrophobic Mesh

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Chemical Engineering
• Environmental Science

Background:

• Superhydrophobic meshes are crucial for oil/water separation but often face a trade-off between high flux and high intrusion pressure.
• Existing methods struggle to achieve both high separation efficiency and high throughput simultaneously.

Purpose of the Study:

• To fabricate a high-performance superhydrophobic stainless steel mesh membrane for efficient oil/water separation.
• To overcome the compromise between flux and intrusion pressure in existing superhydrophobic separation materials.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a superhydrophobic stainless steel mesh using a hairy-like poly(divinylbenzene) (PDVB) coating via precipitated cationic polymerization.
• Characterization of the mesh's microstructure and superhydrophobic properties.
• Evaluation of oil/water separation performance, including flux and intrusion pressure.

Main Results:

• A facile, one-step synthesis of the superhydrophobic mesh was achieved in under 90 seconds at ambient temperature.
• The unique hair-like PDVB microstructure enhances superhydrophobicity with minimal pore blockage.
• The mesh demonstrated an unprecedented high intrusion pressure of 22 kPa and a high flux of 2.0 × 10^4 L·m^-2·h^-1 for a 2800 mesh.
• Further flux increment to 4.2 × 10^4 L·m^-2·h^-1 was achieved under reduced pressure with higher loading.

Conclusions:

• The developed superhydrophobic mesh offers superior performance in oil/water separation, achieving both high flux and high intrusion pressure.
• The unique pore texture and PDVB microstructure contribute to the enhanced separation efficiency.
• This technology shows significant promise for practical applications, including industrial extraction processes.