Oily wastewater detector based on superhydrophobic liquid marbles

Abstract

Rapid detection of oily wastewater plays a vital role in safeguarding public health, protecting the environment, and supporting effective resource management. It serves as an indispensable tool for early warning, surveillance, and response to various challenges that can affect communities and ecosystems. Here, activated carbon was ground and modified to realize superhydrophobicity, and superhydrophobic activated carbon liquid marbles were prepared with special droplet repulsion properties. The robustness and stability of the liquid marbles were investigated. We demonstrated that the prepared liquid marbles break up immediately once contact with the oils. In addition, we developed a self-made oily wastewater detector based on the high sensitivity of liquid marbles to oily wastewater. Compared with the traditional oily wastewater detection methods, our oily wastewater detector does not require a large amount of chemical reagents, thereby reducing the environmental impact effectively. We believe that this study has a wide range of applications in pollution prevention and liquid treatment.