A Self-Detecting and Self-Cleaning Biomimetic Porous Metal-Based Hydrogel for Oil/Water Separation

• Published in: ACS applied materials & interfaces Vol. 14; no. 22; pp. 26057 - 26067
• Main Authors: Li, Zhaoxin, Sang, Shengtian, Jiang, Shuyue, Chen, Liang, Zhang, Haifeng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 08.06.2022
• Subjects: Applications of Polymer, Composite, and Coating Materials; biomimetics; carbon nanotubes; crosslinking; foams; hydrogels; hydrophilicity; oils; pollution; polyvinyl alcohol; skeleton; tannins; wood; self-detection; hydrogel coating; self-cleaning; oil/water separation; super-wetting surface
• ISSN: 1944-8244; 1944-8252; 1944-8252
• DOI: 10.1021/acsami.2c05327

Porous materials with super-wetting surfaces (superhydrophilic/underwater superoleophobic) are ideal for oil/water separation. However, the inability to monitor the pollution degree and self-cleaning during the separation process limits their application in industrial production. In this study, a porous metal-based hydrogel is proposed, inspired by the porous structure of wood. Porous copper foam with nano-Cu­(OH)2 is used as the skeleton, and its surface is coated with a polyvinyl alcohol, tannic acid, and multiwalled carbon nanotube cross-linked hydrogel coating. The hydrogel has superhydrophilicity and excellent oil/water separation efficiency (>99%) and can adapt to various environments. This approach can also realize hydrogel pollution degree self-detection according to the change in the electrical signal generated during the oil/water separation process, and the hydrogel can also be recovered by soaking to realize self-cleaning. This study will provide new insights into the application of oil/water separation materials in practical industrial manufacturing.