Coaxial electrospun nanofibrous aerogels for effective removal of oils and separation of water-in-oil emulsions

• Published in: Separation and purification technology Vol. 270; p. 118740
• Main Authors: Jiang, Guojun, Ge, Junyan, Jia, Yuxin, Ye, Xiangyu, Jin, Liangying, Zhang, Junrui, Zhao, Zhengping, Yang, Guofang, Xue, Lixin, Xie, Sheng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.09.2021
• Subjects: Aerogel; Nanofiber; Oil absorption; Recyclability; Water-in-oil emulsions separation; Nanofiber; Oil absorption; Aerogel; Recyclability; Water-in-oil emulsions separation
• ISSN: 1383-5866; 1873-3794
• DOI: 10.1016/j.seppur.2021.118740

[Display omitted] •Coaxial electrospun nanofibrous aerogels (NFAs) with high performance were fabricated via a novel route.•The NFAs showed excellent absorptivities for oils and organic solvents.•The NFAs displayed efficient water-in-oil emulsions separation.•The NFAs demonstrated outstanding elasticity and recyclability.•The NFAs maintained superhydrophobic under harsh pH and salty conditions. Superabsorbents, used in the removal ofoilsandorganicsolvents, play a extremely important role in environmental protection. There is an urgent demand for environment-friendly and high-performance absorbent materials with high selectivity for oils and organic solvents, and is also challenging. Herein, a facile and fluorine-free method to fabricate Polyacrylonitrile @ Polydimethylsiloxane (PAN@PDMS) coaxial nanofibrous aerogels (NFAs) was developed. The steps for synthesis included: coaxial electrospinning - freeze drying - in situ polymerization. The obtained PAN@PDMS NFAs displayed excellent absorption capacities for various oils and organic solvents (55.43–127.37 times of its weight), and efficient water-in-oil emulsions separation with high separation flux (1718 ± 45 L·m−2·h−1) and excellent separation efficiency (above 99.47 wt%). Particularly, the NFAs showed outstanding mechanical resilience (above 83% recovery after repeating 200 cycles at 80% strain) and could be reused by simply squeezing the oil/organic solvent out of it. More importantly, the PAN@PDMS NFAs showed good resistanceagainstvarious chemicals such asacids and alkalis. Therefore, this study offers a facile methodology for the fabrication of NFAs that are expected to be promising candidate materials for practical oily wastewater treatment in environmental protection.