PAN/Zein/BiOCl fibrous membranes with ultrafast liquid transport channels and petal-textured energy conversion layers for oil–water separation and photocatalytic degradation

Complex pollutants in wastewater, such as recalcitrant oils, organic dyes, and antibiotics, have posed significant environmental challenges that adversely affect ecosystems and human health. Herein, we successfully fabricated hierarchical bioinspired polyacrylonitrile (PAN)/Zein/bismuth oxychloride (BiOCl) fibrous membranes featuring ultrafast liquid transport channels and petal-textured energy conversion layers by integrating centrifugal spinning with the in-situ growth of BiOCl nanosheets. The membranes demonstrate an exceptional capability to treat oil/water mixtures and simultaneously remove soluble dyes, thereby offering a viable solution to the issues mentioned above. The strategic construction of liquid channels, coupled with the BiOCl photocatalytic layers, optimized the water transport pathway in the oil/water mixture and facilitated the formation of an effective hydrated anti-fouling layer, achieving a separation flux as high as 6498 L·m −2 ·h −1 . Additionally, the membranes exhibited outstanding pollutant degradation performance, with removal efficiencies of 94.1 % for Rhodamine B and 64.5 % for TC-HCl. This work comes up with new insight for the rational design of multifunctional fibrous membranes, opening a window for the prospect of treating environmental wastewater.