Nacre‐Inspired Biomineralized Mesh toward Scalable and Robust Oil–Water Separation with High Efficiency

Abstract

The leakage of offshore crude oil and the discharge of industrial oily wastewater always bring great harm to human health and ecological environment. To solve these problems, advanced interfacial materials for oil–water separation have attracted wide attentions. However, most of these materials still have several disadvantages including complicated preparation process, low separation efficiency, and easy damage. Herein, a nacre‐inspired biomineralized mesh (NBM) with underwater superoleophobicity shows scalable and robust oil–water separation with high efficiency. Through the combination of dip coating and biomineralization, the NBM is readily scalable fabrication. Similar chemical components and micro‐nanostructures to the natural nacre endow the NBM with good mechanical properties. Furthermore, the NBM can resist to sand impingement and knife scratch along high efficiency of oil–water separation (≈99.9%) even after repeated use for 50 times, which may come from its high hardness and Young's modulus. Therefore, this study provides new insights for the scalable development of oil–water separation materials with high efficiency and robustness.

Aragonite and Its Composites: Preparations, Properties and Applications

“…The nylon mesh is first coated with a uniform layer of CSMA pre-gel, cured with UV light, and then mineralized in a PAA-stabilized ACC solution to form the mineralized film. [129] Therefore, the major advantage of this approach lies in its ability to overcome size and shape limitations in both the organic template prepared through superdiffusion/photocrosslinking and the mineralization of ACC nanoparticles. This not only significantly reduces reaction time Subsequently, the dried CSMA films with varied thicknesses are mineralized by simply immersing them in the ACC solution at different times.…”

“…A1) Photographs of the experiment of oil-water separation; A2) Underwater superoleophobic properties and low oil-adhesion forces of NBM; A3) The oil-water separation efficiency of the NBM for different types of oil; A4) Oil-water separation efficiency from multiple recycles; A5) Oil-water separation efficiency of diverse NaCl concentrations until saturation after soaking. [129] (Copyright 2021 Wiley-VCH GmbH). (B1-B6): Transparency of the NIM films and their potential applications as transparent oil-repellent coatings.…”

“…Notably, a similar mineralization process has been used to produce a NBM on a nylon mesh substrate (refer to Figure 8B). The nylon mesh is first coated with a uniform layer of CSMA pre‐gel, cured with UV light, and then mineralized in a PAA‐stabilized ACC solution to form the mineralized film [129] . Therefore, the major advantage of this approach lies in its ability to overcome size and shape limitations in both the organic template prepared through superdiffusion/photocrosslinking and the mineralization of ACC nanoparticles.…”

“…(Copyright 2020, WILEY‐VCH Verlag). (B1–B5): B1) Schematic of the preparation process of the Nacre‐inspired biomineralized mesh (NBM); B2, B4) Surface structure observed by SEM, and underwater oil contact angle (OCA) of the NBM; B3) Photograph of the NBM; B5) XRD spectra of the prepared NBM, natural nacre, and aragonite standard card [129] . (Copyright 2021, Wiley‐VCH GmbH).…”

Robust and durable liquid-repellent surfaces

“…24f and g). 67,409,410 The prepared film was composed of aragonite platelets as the inorganic component and chitosan derivative as the organic framework, and showed outstanding robustness and durability in terms of long-term immersion in high salt solution or seawater, and intensive impingement by falling sands (Fig. 24h).…”