Self-cleaning and Oil/Water Separation of 3D Network Super-hydrophobic Bead-like Fluorinated Silica Pellets/Poly(aryl ether ketone) Composite Membrane Fabricated via a Facile One-step Electrospinning

Abstract

Novel super-hydrophobic fluorinated silica pellets/poly(aryl ether ketone) composite membranes with controllable structure have been prepared through incorporating poly(aryl ether ketone)s with (3-trifluoromethyl)-phenyl side groups and fluorinated silica pellets(F-SiO2) by a facile one-step electrospinning. Under the condition of adding 50%(mass fraction) F-SiO2 in the composite membrane, the water contact angle(WCA) reached its maximum (157°±4.3°). The controllable micro/nano-structures grown on the electrospun fibers could be regulated by the F-SiO2 loading, which was illustrated by scanning electron microscopy(SEM). Moreover, these super-hydrophobic membranes also demonstrated excellent durability, anti-fouling property and oil-water separation ability after 200 h of water flushing. These promising PAEK composite membranes with controllable structure have the potential values in large-scale application of filtration, oil-water separation and antifouling.