Photothermal-Responsive Electrospun Fibrous Membrane for Flux Tunable Oil-In-Water Emulsion Separation

Oil–water separation has attracted considerable concern for the increasing discharge of industrial oily wastewater and frequency of oil spill accidents. Conventional oil–water separation methods are not effective in treating emulsified oil. In this study, photothermal-responsive polyurethane (PU)/poly(methyl methacrylate)-block-poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PMMA-b-PNIPAM) fibrous membranes (denoted as PTFMs) with core-shell structure are fabricated. The as-prepared membranes exhibited photothermal-modulable water wettability. Significantly, the wettability and permeation flux can be tuned by light illumination during the oil–water separation process because of the incorporation of light-responsive Ag nanoparticles and thermal-responsive copolymers. In addition, the as-prepared membrane exhibited recyclability even for forty separation cycles. It was concluded that the photothermal-responsive composite fibrous membranes provide great potential for the development of remotely operated water treatment devices.