Fabrication of underliquid dual superlyophobic membrane via anchoring polyethersulfone nanoparticles on Zn-Ni-Co layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanowires with stainless steel mesh as supporter

A hierarchical micro/nanostructure has been successfully fabricated, which is constructed by anchoring polyethersulfone (PES) nanoparticles on Zn-Ni-Co layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanowires with stainless steel mesh as supporter (PES/PDA@ZNCNW-SSM). The PES/PDA@ZNCNW-SSM shows excellent underliquid dual superlyophobicity with underwater tetrachloroethylene contact angle and under n-hexane water contact angle of 166.7° and 166.8°, respectively. The underliquid dual lyophobic PES and microporous structure formed by Zn-Ni-Co LDH nanowires synergistically contribute to the underliquid dual superlyophobic surface, which is beneficial for effective and controllable organic liquid/water separation. After 10 cycles of alternate separation, the separation efficiencies of PES/PDA@ZNCNW-SSM are above 99.9% and 99.4% for water-in-tetrachloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene-in-water emulsions, respectively. The underliquid dual superlyophobicity can also be obtained with carbon cloth, non-woven fabric, Ni foam and filter paper as supporter and the corresponding membranes can be used to efficiently separate organic liquid/water mixtures on-demand. These results confirm that the hierarchical micro/nanostructure anchored with underliquid dual lyophobic PES nanoparticles is an effective route for the preparation of underliquid dual superlyophobic materials.