Superhydrophobic through-pore PI/PTFE aerogels enable high-temperature W/O emulsion separation

We report a freeze-templated, through-pore PI/PTFE aerogel that integrates a PTFE-impregnated superhydrophobic interface (water contact angle ≈ 156°) with an open, percolating architecture engineered for hot W/O emulsion separation. Under a modest driving pressure (ΔP = 0.02 MPa), the aerogel delivers high oil fluxes and > 99.5 % separation efficiency across a broad operating window (25–90 °C, pH 1–14). At 90 °C, fluxes exceed 3800 LMH (soybean-oil emulsions) and 1360 LMH (vacuum-pump-oil emulsions) while maintaining ≥ 99.5 % rejection; 30-cycle tests confirm durability with ethanol-rinse regeneration and minimal performance drift. The aerogel’s low thermal conductivity (≈ 0.048–0.074 W·m −1 ·K −1 ) additionally mitigates heat loss during hot-emulsion processing. These results demonstrate a scalable route to high-throughput, chemically and thermally robust W/O emulsion remediation.