Structural tailored ZnO@Cu2O heterostructure-decorated mesh with dual functionalities for oil/water separation and photodegradation

Abstract

Application of the super-wettability material is one of the most ideal approaches to achieve oil/water separation. The construction of the super-wettability material surface is the key to significantly boost the separation efficiency. In this work, the ZnO@Cu2O honeycomb-likes hierarchical micro/nano-structure copper mesh (ZnO@Cu2O/CM) is facilely fabricated through the combination of oxidation and hydrothermal deposition. Accordingly, superhydrophilicity/underwater superoleophobicity can be achieved, which endows over 99% separation efficiency as well as considerable permeation flux (>38120 L∙m−2∙h−1) for ZnO@Cu2O/CM toward various oil/water mixtures. Besides, the combination of ZnO and Cu2O produces a p-n heterostructure to further reduce the recombination rate of electron and hole, resulting in the improved the photocatalytic activity. The removal efficiency for methylene blue (MB) of ZnO@Cu2O/CM could be improved to 98.1%, nearly 1.6 times than that of Cu2O/CM. Various stability tests demonstrate that the material exhibits good mechanical stability, anti-corrosive property and thermal durability under harsh environments. Furthermore, cyclic experiments reveal that ZnO@Cu2O/CM exhibits fascinating reusability. In conclusion, the as-synthesized dual-functional mesh performs favorable photocatalytic activity and super-wettability, which can realize wastewater remediation at low cost and energy consumption.