Journal of Bionic Engineering (2022) 19:1615–1624 https://doi.org/10.1007/s42235-022-00231-y

Changlian Xu1  · Yitong Luo1  · Lu Zhou1  · Yiwen Bi1  · Hao Sun1

1 College of Environmental Sciences, Sichuan Agricultural University-Chengdu Campus, 211 Huimin Road, Chengdu 611130, China

Abstract: How to fabricate durable superhydrophobic materials for cyclic oil/water separation to solve oil-induced pollutions is still a problem. Herein, we fabricated a durable Superhydrophobic Stainless Steel Mesh (SH-SSM) with nano/micro fower-like sheets by self-assembly of zinc stearate for the cyclic separation of various oil/water mixtures. The SH-SSM exhibits durable superhydrophobicity against static or dynamic treatments. In virtue of durable superhydrophobicity of the SH-SSM, the dusts on surface of SH-SSM can be removed completely by running water immediately showing excellent self-cleaning performance. Moreover, the SH-SSM can be used to perform gravity-driven separation of heavy oil/water and light oil/water mixtures by utilizing its superhydrophobicity that oil phase penetrates the mesh and water phase is restricted. Separation efciencies of the SH-SSM can reach 99.99%. After 20 cycles of separation, the separation efciencies for are>97.00% and>98.25% for heavy oil/water and light oil/water mixtures, respectively. Flux values of dichloromethane, hexane and petroleum ether are 2.5× 105 L m?2 h?1, 1.7× 105 L m?2 h?1, and 1.8× 105 L m?2 h?1, respectively. This study proposes a facial approach to prepare durable superhydrophobic and self-cleaning material for cyclic and fast separation of oil/water. 

Keywords: Oil–water separation · Self-assembly · Superhydrophobic · Self-cleaning · Bioinspired

Illustrations of fabrication of SH-SSM for oil/water separation