Collagen fibers with tuned wetting properties for dual separation of oil-in-water and water-in-oil emulsion

• Published in: Journal of materials chemistry. A, Materials for energy and sustainability Vol. 8; no. 46; pp. 24388 - 24392
• Main Authors: Chen, Guangyan, Wang, Yanan, Wang, Yujia, Xiao, Hanzhong, Huang, Xin, Shi, Bi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Royal Society of Chemistry 14.12.2020
• Subjects: Collagen; Contact angle; Emulsions; Fibers; Oil; Separation; Silicones; Underwater; Wettability; Wetting
• ISSN: 2050-7488; 2050-7496
• DOI: 10.1039/d0ta06625g

Tuning the wettability of materials is of significance in developing efficient separation materials. Herein, we tuned the wetting properties of collagen fibers (CFs) by surface decoration with Zr 4+ , and the resultant composite fibers were effective for dual separation of oil-in-water (O/W) and water-in-oil (W/O) emulsions. The as-prepared composite fibers were underwater superoleophobic, with an underwater oil contact angle of 158.4°, which enabled the successful separation of a variety of O/W emulsions by rejecting oil selectively while permitting water permeation. Furthermore, the composite fibers featured underoil hydrophilicity as well as large water-absorbing capacity (4.17 g g −1 ), which allowed for separating diverse W/O emulsions by capturing water from the W/O emulsions. For the dual separation, the separation efficiency was high up to 99.9995%, and the flux reached 3031 L m −2 h −1 . The composite fibers also showed long-term separation stability and good recycling capability. Our strategy might be applied for developing other separation materials that could be applicable for achieving dual separation of O/W and W/O emulsions. Tuning the wettability of materials is of significance in developing efficient separation materials.