Abstract
The disposal of oil-in-water emulsion wastewater produced by many industries needs to undergo demulsification treatment before release. Herein, self-propelled amphiphilic micromotors were developed as active heterogeneous demulsifiers for efficient oil/water separation. The amphiphilic structures of micromotors were constructed by asymmetrically coating hydrophobic carbon soot on the surface of the hydrophilic Fe3O4@FeS@MnO2 composites. Benefiting from autonomous propulsion and considerable bubble generation, amphiphilic micromotors can push the oil droplets away from the aqueous phase and aggregate them to form an oil layer, achieving rapid oil–water separation. The demulsification process by the amphiphilic micromotors was investigated, in which both the interaction of micromotors with oil droplets and the collision by bubbles played important roles. After demulsification, oily contaminants with amphiphilic micromotors embedded inside can be separated from the aqueous phase and collected by external magnetic fields. The proposed amphiphilic micromotors blaze new trails for the treatment of emulsified oily wastewater.
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