One-step hydrothermal synthesis of the modified carbon cloth membrane: Towards visible light driven and self-cleaning for efficient oil-water separation

Abstract

The CC@TiO2-Cu membranes with various Cu doping contents have been synthesized via a simple one-step hydrothermal method for oil-water separation application. It is found that a certain amount of Cu doping is beneficial for achieving visible light response and enhance the superhydrophilicity/underwater superoleophobic performance of CC@TiO2-Cu membranes. Importantly, the CC@TiO2-Cu2.5 membrane with cauliflower-like morphology shows excellent self-cleaning and antifouling performance under visible light driven. And its separation efficiency can still maintain up to 99.6% under gravity even after 80 cycles of oil-water separation experiments. The mechanisms of both oil-water separation and photocatalytic self-cleaning for the CC@TiO2-Cu membrane are discussed in detail. The study provides a new concept for designing self-cleaning membrane to apply in oil-water separation.