Ceramic Whiskers Grafted with Liquid-Like Surface for Scalable Underwater Methane Collection.

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Environmental Engineering
• Nanotechnology

Background:

• Efficient underwater methane capture is critical for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
• Existing superhydrophobic surfaces face challenges in long-term, fast, and scalable methane bubble collection.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel material for efficient and scalable underwater methane bubble collection.
• To investigate the properties and performance of a ceramic whisker skeleton with a liquid-like surface for methane capture.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a rigid plate-like porous skeleton using in situ-grown mullite whiskers.
• Surface modification with PDMS to create a liquid-like layer on whisker surfaces.
• Characterization using TEM and HAADF-STEM.
• Testing of underwater superhydrophobic stability and methane collection rates.

Main Results:

• The material exhibited a thin liquid-like layer (2.4-6.1 nm) on whisker surfaces.
• Demonstrated excellent low contact angle hysteresis (2°) and long-term stability (30 days).
• Achieved a high methane collection rate of approximately 4.38 mL·min⁻¹·cm⁻² at 85 cm depth.
• Scalable configurations (series, parallel, hybrid) enabled continuous collection for 48 hours.

Conclusions:

• The ceramic whisker skeleton with a liquid-like surface is a promising strategy for large-scale methane bubble collection.
• The system offers long-term stability and high collection rates, addressing key challenges in underwater methane capture.
• This approach contributes to mitigating greenhouse gas emissions through efficient methane recovery.