Electrospinning superhydrophobic-superoleophilic PVDF-SiO2 nanofibers membrane for oil-water separation

Oil-water separation has attracted research interest due to the damages of oily wastewater caused to the environment and human beings. Electrospun fiber membrane has high oil-water separation performance. A nanofibers membrane with multi-stage roughness was prepared by electrospinning using poly(vinylidene fluoride)(PVDF)-silica blend solution as raw material. The result shows that the water contact angle (WCA) of the nanofibers membrane was promoted from 138.5 +/- 1 degrees to 150.0 +/- 1.5 degrees when the SiO(2)content was increased from 0 to 3 wt%. The nanofibers membranes exhibited excellent separation efficiency (99 +/- 0.1%) under gravity drive, with high separation flux of 1857 +/- 101 L center dot m(-2)center dot h(-1). More importantly, the obtained PVDF-SiO(2)nanofibers membranes showed excellent multi-cycle performance and stable chemical resistance, which would make them great advantages for the practical application of oil-water separation.