Fabrication of Photo-Responsive Mesh Membrane with Surface-Engineered Wettability for Oil-Water Separation and Photocatalytic Degradation of Organic Pollutants

A photo-responsive TiO2-coated stainless-steel mesh membrane (TiO2@SSM), possessing unique surface wettability, was fabricated. This TiO2@SSM membrane is found to be capable of separating oil and water from oily water and has the potential to carry out photocatalytic self-cleaning and/or the degradation of organic pollutants present in water. The fabrication of TiO2@SSM is quite simple: titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles were spray-coated onto stainless steel microporous mesh (SSM) substrates and annealed at the temperature of 500 degrees C. The fabricated TiO2@SSM membrane was structurally and morphologically characterized by XRD, FE-SEM, EDX, and elemental mapping. The contact angle measurements using a goniometer showed that the fabricated TiO2@SSM membrane surface is superhydrophilic and superoleophilic in air and superoleophobic under water. This is a favorable wetting condition for the water passing oil-water separation membrane, and this water passing property of the membrane eased the common problem of the fast clogging of the membrane by oil. An oil-water separation efficiency of about 99% was achieved, when the TiO2@SSM membrane was used as the separating medium in the gravity-driven oil-water separation system, unlike the uncoated stainless steel mesh membrane, which allowed both oil and water to pass together. This confirmed that the oil-water separating functionality of the membrane is attributed to TiO2 coating on the stainless steel mesh. The photocatalytic degradation property of the TiO2@SSM membrane is an added advantage, where the membrane can be potentially used for self-cleaning of the membrane's surface and/or for water purification.