Stable Superhydrophobic MOF-5@polydopamine@melamine Sponge for Efficient Continuous Oil-Water Separation and Emulsion Purification

Frequent oil spill incidents and increasing amounts of industrial wastewater pose a serious threat to the environment. The use of superhydrophobic materials to separate oil/water mixtures has attracted widespread attention. In this work, a superhydrophobic sponge based on MOF-5 was prepared to achieve efficient continuous oil-water separation and emulsion purification. HDTMS-MOF-5@PDA@MS (H-MOF-5@PDA@MS) not only exhibited superhydrophobic property (WCA = 153.8 degrees, SA = 6.5 degrees) but also exhibited excellent saturated adsorption capacity, with an oil adsorption capacity of 66 (petroleum ether)-168 (chloroform) g/g and oil-water separation efficiency of 99.2%. It also demonstrated efficient performance in various emulsion purification processes. Furthermore, it maintained a stable superhydrophobicity in some extreme environments. H-MOF-5@PDA@MS is expected to have wide application perspective in the fields of environmental pollution control and wastewater treatment due to its low cost, simple process, excellent oil-water separation efficiency, reusability, and environmental friendliness.