ZnO/polyvinylidenefluoride/octadecylamine membranes deposited on copper mesh for efficient oil-water separation

The preparation of stable and highly adhesive composite structures on the copper mesh is important to achieve long-term oil-water separation. In this work, ZnO nanorod arrays/polyvinylidene fluoride/octadecylamine (ZnO/PVDF/ODA) composite membranes are fabricated on copper mesh combining magnetron sputtering, hydrothermal and impregnation methods. The results show that ZnO nanorod arrays enables the surface coating to be firmly attached to the membrane surface, thus significantly improving the mechanical stability of the membrane. ZnO/PVDF/ODA composite membranes demonstrate excellent separation efficiency and flux during gravity-driven oil-water separation process. For all oil-water mixtures tested, the membrane separation efficiency is above 97 %. The best performance is obtained in the separation of dichloromethane and water, while the separation efficiency can reach 99.84 %, it also shows high separation flux (1686.022 Lm -2 h -1 ). Simultaneously, the composite membrane exhibits favorable physical and chemical stability for the purpose of long-term oil-water separation. It provides a feasible method of fabricating composite membranes for efficient oil-water separation based on copper mesh.