A facile development of superhydrophobic and superoleophilic micro-textured functionalized mesh membrane for fast and efficient separation of oil from water

Oil-contaminated water has become a severe threat to the environment, human and aquatic life. The major contributor to oil pollution is the periodical oil spill incidents and the oily effluents released from the industry. For efficient separation and recovery of oil from contaminated water, selective wettable surfaces have received substantial attention. However, high cost, compromised efficiencies, and complex preparation methods are the significant challenges in developing selective wettable membranes. A scalable approach is adopted to develop a highly selective super-wettable/superhydrophobic mesh for oil/water separation. The surface chemistry of the mesh membrane was controlled by surface activation (SA) and chemical functionalization with 3-[2-(2-Amino-ethylamino)ethylamino]propyl-trimethoxysilane (TAS) and palmitic acid. The SEM and FTIR analysis have revealed the successful functionalization with the TAS and PA. SSM's functionalized surface has appeared super-selective for oil with a water contact angle of 161 degrees. The surface attached-detached analysis has shown that water drops have no affinity to the functionalized mesh. During oil/water separation, the surface has selectively separated the oil from water under the force of gravity with a separation efficiency of up to 98.7%. PA-TAS-SA-SSM has shown the fast permeation of oil during oil/water mixture separation with a flux of 29,161 +/- 2169 L m(-2) h(-1). Due to high flux and excellent separation efficiencies, the developed mesh membrane can be effectively used for oil/water separation.