High-efficiency oil/water separation by simple fabrication of superhydrophobic nanocomposite (Zno-SiO2) coating mesh

Abstract

Environmental sustainability and human health are globally imperilled by oil-contaminated water resulting from oil spill disasters or industrial disposal. Superhydrophobic materials have gained increasing attention in oil–water separation to fulfil the ever-growing need for highly effective oil–water separation. Due to the regeneration ability of silicon dioxide nanoparticles (SiO2), superhydrophobic/superolephilic nanocomposite (ZnO-SiO2) was created using a new, simple flame treatment procedure. ZnO(NRs) was coated on stainless steel mesh via water bath deposition method and modified with silicon rubber ( RTV-SR) solution. The mesh coated exhibited an excellent superhydrophobic surface with water at a contact angle 168±1°, a sliding angle 3.5° and superolephilic with oil contact angle OCA (0°). The x-ray diffraction, contact angle measurement, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) were used to describe the coated mesh surface. Kerosene-water, diesel oil–water mixtures and sunflower oil–water are successfully separated by the simple filtering method using the coated mesh with a separation efficiency of 96%.