Active antifouling carbon cloth@Ni-Co LDH/Ag membrane for efficient oil/water separation

The effective treatment of oily wastewater is of great significance for the protection of the ecological environment and human health. Aiming to prepare a membrane with excellent antifouling properties, a new active antifouling carbon cloth@Ni-Co LDH/Ag (CC@LDH/Ag) membrane was reported here via in situ hydrothermal growth and followed photo-deposition methods. The effects of Ag deposition on self-cleaning ability and surface wettability of CC@LDH/Ag membrane were studied. The experimental results showed CC@LDH/Ag membrane is superhydrophilic/underwater superoleophobic, and exhibited high separation efficiency (>98.6%) and high flux (6551–22,050 L m −2  h −1 ) for different kinds of oil/water mixtures. Moreover, CC@LDH/Ag membrane also displayed excellent environmental and mechanical durability. Good self-cleaning ability enabled CC@LDH/Ag membrane to be separated at least 30 times, and still maintained high separation performance. The self-cleaning CC@LDH/Ag membrane may hold great application prospects in oily wastewater remediation.