Superhydrophobic Stainless Steel Mesh Research Articles

Fabrication of a robust superhydrophobic stainless steel mesh for efficient oil/water separation

Selective oil removal from water is a critical problem in the realm of environmental science and engineering. Metallic meshes arecommonly used as potential oil–water separators due to their low cost and good mechanical properties. Meshes with selective wettability can effectively remove oil or water from their mixtures easily using gravity-based filtration. In this work, a mechanically robust Ni-WS2 based superhydrophobic stainless steel mesh (SHSM) has been developed via one-step electrodeposition. The surface morphologies, surface roughness, phase composition, and wettability were studied using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Water Contact Angle (WCA) measurements respectively. A high water contact angle of 169.5° with excellent superhydrophobic and superoleophilic properties was achieved by tuning the surface morphology of the mesh. The oil/water separation performance of the developed SHSM was studied and the efficiency was greater than 98% even after multiple uses. Further, the SHSM is highly corrosion-resistant and exhibits self-cleaning properties with excellent mechanical and chemical stability against strong acidic/alkaline solutions. Thus, the developed multifunctional SHSM demonstrates its potential at industrial-level applications of oil–water separation under harsh environments.

One-step candle soot-PDMS dip-coated superhydrophobic stainless steel mesh for oil-water separation

We presented a superhydrophobic stainless steel mesh (SSM) developed by facile one-step dip coating of candle soot (CS)-polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) using chloroform as solvent for effective and durable oil-water separation. SSM dip coated with chloroform solution of 200 mg CS and 0.5 mL PDMS yielded water contact angle (WCA), oil contact angle (OCA) and sliding angle (SA) of 162 ± 2°, 0° and 4 ± 1°, respectively. In series of oil-water separation studies, superhydrophobic mesh revealed >98 % separation efficiency with high separation flux of 7810 L·m−2·h−1. The superhydrophobic mesh revealed excellent mechanical, chemical and thermal durability.

A facile approach for oil-water separation using superhydrophobic polystyrene-silica coated stainless steel mesh bucket

Inspired by traditional shaduf technology in the irrigation field, we fabricated a superhydrophobic stainless steel mesh bucket by layering polystyrene and SiO2 nanoparticles through a facile dip coating technique for effective oil-water separation. The superhydrophobic steel mesh bucket could effectively lift oil as well as microplastic pollutants from the water surface. The water contact angle of a two-layered polystyrene-silica coating was 158.5° ± 2°, while the oil contact angle was nearly 0°. The oil-water separation performance of superhydrophobic mesh was tested using several kinds of oil. The separation efficiency achieved for low viscous oil was 99.33 %, while 86.66 % efficiency was recorded for high viscous oil. The superhydrophobic mesh showed high durability against mechanical tests including bending, folding, twisting, adhesive tape tearing (25 cycles), and sandpaper abrasion (20 cycles). The mesh presented admirable thermal and chemical durability. The present superhydrophobic steel mesh bucket is a suitable candidate for large-scale application.

Preparation of pH-responsive reversible wettable surfaces and application for oil-water separation

With the continuous development of society, the discharge of oily wastewater in daily life and industry has gradually increased, causing considerable damage to the environment, and how to effectively treat oily wastewater is an urgent problem. In this paper, a simple method is proposed to prepare superhydrophobic stainless steel mesh with pH response. The relationship between the ratio of mixed thiols and the surface wettability was explored, as well as the morphology, chemical composition, and pH-responsive mechanism of the stainless steel mesh surface were analyzed, and the separation efficiency, recycling ability, and backwashing ability of the mesh were explored by oil–water separation experiments. It was found that when the molar fraction of 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid and 1-decanethiol in the mixed mercaptan was 2:3, the water contact angle of the surface at this point was 156.5 ± 1°, with pH response characteristics and good oil–water separation efficiency, backwashing and recycling capabilities.

Preparation of Superhydrophilic/Underwater Superoleophobic and Superhydrophobic Stainless Steel Meshes Used for Oil/Water Separation.

Robust membrane materials with high efficiency have attracted extensive attention in oil/water separation. In this work, carbon particles via candle combustion were firstly adsorbed on the surface of stainless steel meshes (SSMs), which formed a thin hydrophobic coating, and a rough structure was then constructed through chemical vapor deposition and high temperature calcination, with the resultant SSM surface wrapped with uniform silica coating possessing the characteristic of superoleophobicity underwater. Scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) were used to characterize the modified SSMs. The prepared SSMs were superhydrophilic in air, and they had superoleophobicity underwater (157.4°). The separation efficiency of five oil/water mixtures was above 98.8%, and the separation flux was 46,300 L·m-2·h-1. After it was immersed in 1 mol/L NaOH, 1 mol/L HCl and 3.5 wt% NaCl for 24 h, respectively, the efficiency was still above 97.3%. Further immersion in the solution of dopamine and octadecylamine resulted in the transformation of superhydrophililc/superoleophobicity-underwater SSMs to superhydrophobic SSMs, and the resultant SSMs with reverse surface wettability was also used for the oil/water separation with good separation efficiency and separation flux.

Fabrication of robust superhydrophobic–superoleophilic mesh for oil–water separation

Frequent oil spillage at sea and waste oily water draining cause severe harm to the environment and economy. Although various extremely wettable materials are designed to achieve oil–water separation, there are still limitations, such as expensive materials, fluorine-containing reagents and poor robustness of oil–water-separating materials. Here, the authors resolved the aforementioned problems by proposing a simple and low-cost sandblasting plating method with nickel (Ni), phosphorus (P) and 1-octadecanethiol modification to manufacture a robust superhydrophobic stainless steel mesh for separating oily water under harsh environments. The mesh can separate light and heavy oily water with outstanding separating efficiency and high purity. It can be also used to separate hydrochloric acid (HCl) solution–oil, sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution–oil and sodium chloride (NaCl) solution–oil, with separating efficiency higher than 95%. Moreover, the mesh is still superhydrophobic and has outstanding oil–water-separating efficiency after sandpaper abrasion, tape stripping, simulated seawater corrosion and natural environment corrosion tests. Therefore, the robust superhydrophobic stainless steel mesh proposed in this work can very efficiently separate oily water in harsh environments.

Simple anodic oxidation method for the preparation of superhydrophobic stainless-steel mesh for oil-water separation

Nowadays, all kinds of oil products have become an important pillar of human economic development. The generation and leakage of oily wastewater in the process of oil collection, processing and transportation will have a bad impact on human and nature. Oil-water separation has become a research hotspot. Materials with special wettability have attracted great attention. In this work, 316L stainless-steel mesh with micro-nano composite structure on the surface was obtained by a simple anodic oxidation method. After perfluorooctanoic acid modification, superhydrophobicity was obtained, which showed reverse affinity to oil and water, and could realize the separation and collection of oil in oil-water mixture. The separation efficiency of various oils was above 95 %. After 15 separation cycles for N-hexane and water mixture, the separation efficiency was still above 96 %. The simple anodic oxidation method can complete the construction of micro-nano composite structure of 316L stainless-steel mesh within 5 min, which has high preparation efficiency, and the superhydrophobic stainless-steel mesh can also be reused.

Fabrication of Durable Superhydrophobic Stainless Steel Mesh with Nano/Micro Flower-Like Morphologies for Self-Cleaning and Efficient Oil/Water Separation

How to fabricate durable superhydrophobic materials for cyclic oil/water separation to solve oil-induced pollutions is still a problem. Herein, we fabricated a durable Superhydrophobic Stainless Steel Mesh (SH-SSM) with nano/micro flower-like sheets by self-assembly of zinc stearate for the cyclic separation of various oil/water mixtures. The SH-SSM exhibits durable superhydrophobicity against static or dynamic treatments. In virtue of durable superhydrophobicity of the SH-SSM, the dusts on surface of SH-SSM can be removed completely by running water immediately showing excellent self-cleaning performance. Moreover, the SH-SSM can be used to perform gravity-driven separation of heavy oil/water and light oil/water mixtures by utilizing its superhydrophobicity that oil phase penetrates the mesh and water phase is restricted. Separation efficiencies of the SH-SSM can reach 99.99%. After 20 cycles of separation, the separation efficiencies for are > 97.00% and > 98.25% for heavy oil/water and light oil/water mixtures, respectively. Flux values of dichloromethane, hexane and petroleum ether are 2.5 × 105 L m−2 h−1, 1.7 × 105 L m−2 h−1, and 1.8 × 105 L m−2 h−1, respectively. This study proposes a facial approach to prepare durable superhydrophobic and self-cleaning material for cyclic and fast separation of oil/water.

Fabrication of superhydrophobic stainless-steel mesh for oil-water separation by jet electrodeposition

A method for fabricating superhydrophobic stainless-steel meshes based on magnetic field-assisted jet electrodeposition is proposed. Ferromagnetic nickel particles (Nip) were added to the electroplating solution to prepare Ni/Nip coatings with mountain-like rough structure on stainless-steel meshes, followed by application of a parallel magnetic field in the cathode region. Magnetic fields play an indispensable role in the preparation of coatings. Exposure to air for 6 days resulted in a spontaneous switch of the coating from superhydrophilicity to superhydrophobicity and exhibited superoleophilicity. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed that this transition in wettability was related to spontaneous adsorption of hydrocarbons in the air induced by the coating. Based on the superhydrophobicity and superoleophilicity of the as-prepared Ni/Nip-coated meshes, high-efficiency, high-throughput, and high-purity separation of oil-water mixtures was achieved with a 300-mesh mesh. Furthermore, the as-prepared meshes continue to exhibit a separation efficiency greater than 97.0% and stable reusability even after 50 repeated separations.

A one-step preparation of superhydrophobic stainless steel mesh and application in raffinate cleaning technology as a coalescer for contaminated organic-water separation

Improving raffinate oil-water separation efficiency and simplifying the production process of coalescing material are both in great demand but remain difficult. In this study, a superhydrophobic stainless steel surface was created using a simple one-step electrodeposition process in an electrolyte solution comprising nickel chloride (NiCl2·6H2O), stearic acid, and ethanol. The surface shape, chemical content, and superhydrophobic property were studied using a scanning electron microscope (SEM), Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrometer, energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and contact angle measurement. The cotton-like microstructure, comprised of crystals of Ni metal and Ni(CH3(CH2)16COO)2, demonstrated outstanding acid and alkaline resistance with a maximum surface contact angle of 166.8°. The oil-water separation performance of raffinate was tested in a mixer-settler, and the separation efficiency ranged from 75% to 80% in a P507 + Kerosene/water system, based on Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) indicating its potential applicability in the solvent extraction process. A high-speed camera was also used to observe the coalescing behavior of oil droplets in water.

Straightforward fabrication of robust and healable superhydrophobic steel mesh based on polydimethylsiloxane

AbstractA straightforward and scalable strategy was presented for the fabrication of superhydrophobic stainless steel mesh (SSM) by depositing with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) to perform the hydrophobic effect. After the thermal processing with a flame for seconds, the PDMS coated steel mesh demonstrated excellent integration of superhydrophobic/superoleophilic properties. Besides, the resultant SSM showed efficient separation ability of water‐in‐oil emulsion. Furthermore, the surfaces also exhibited excellent tolerance to various chemical, UV irradiated and strongly friction‐resistant against sandpaper (50 g of force for 1000 cm). More strikingly, the damaged surfaces losing its superhydrophobicity can be simply healed by reapplying flame heat to the worn area. This straightforward and healable synthetic strategy for the manufacture of superhydrophobic SSM offers potential applications in large‐scale oil/water separation.

Fabrication of sepiolite-based super-hydrophobic stainless steel mesh for enhanced stability and high efficiency oil-water separation

As one of natural nano-clay material, sepiolite is easy to modify to obtain low surface energy, which has great potential in the field of superhydrophobicity application. A novel superhydrophobic micro nanofibers (CSEP/OTS) were prepared by grafting long alkyl chains onto organic activated sepiolite fibers (CSEP) by using octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) and tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS). Then, the superhydrophobic sepiolite-based mesh (SSM-SHSEP) was prepared by spraying a mixed suspension of CSEP/OTS and epoxy (EP). Owing to the excellent chemical and physical resistance of sepiolite, epoxy and stainless steel mesh, the prepared mesh exhibits superior robustness and high stability. As the amount of CSEP/OTS increased, the mesh turned from hydrophobic (pristine mesh, WCA = 133.9°) to superhydrophobic (when EP: CSEP/OTS = 1:1.5, WCA = 153.6°). The screened mesh can be an effective tool for separating different oil-water mixtures (reached up to 97.3%). Furthermore, the coated mesh exhibited remarkable reusability (approximately 50 cycles)，excellent corrosion resistance (pH from 1 to 13), and distinguished durability (20 cycles of sandpaper abrasion test). All these outstanding performances of superhydrophobic sepiolite-based mesh confirmed that it can be widely used in oil-water separation and thereby showed great potential in large-scale industrial applications.

Facile preparation of durable superhydrophobic-superoleophilic mesh using simple chemical oxidation for oil-water separation under harsh conditions

Considering severe damage to environment and human beings caused by the increasing oily wastewater, much progress has been made toward applying superhydrophobic-superoleophilic meshes to various oil-water separation processes with high separation efficiency and flux, especially metallic meshes. However, previously reported methods to prepare superhydrophobic metallic meshes involved unfriendly spray emissions, poor robustness of mesh surface, or extra applied energy requirement. Additionally, most of such meshes utilized for oil-water separation lost their superhydrophobicity when exposed to hot water or strong corrosive solutions. Herein, a durable superhydrophobic stainless steel (SS) mesh was presented using a simple, cost-effective chemical oxidation for the gravity-driven separation of oil-water mixtures under harsh conditions. The irregular microscale bullet-hole-like pits covered with nanoscale villous textures that formed on the mesh wires and fluoroalkylsilane (FAS) molecules endowed such mesh with superhydrophobicity and superoleophilicity. And the separation of heavy or light oil-water mixtures with high separation efficiency and purity was realized using the as-prepared mesh. More importantly, this mesh exhibited good resistance to hot water or corrosive solutions, and was used for corresponding separation of dichloromethane and these harsh environmental liquids with separation efficiencies beyond 96.0%. Moreover, the as-prepared mesh still maintained a separation efficiency above 95.0% and stable reusability after 70 times of repeated separation, and its superhydrophobicity also remained even when exposed to air, immersed into extreme liquids or abraded. This durable superhydrophobic SS mesh developed in this work can be practically used as a high-efficient functional mesh for the separation of oil-water mixtures under various harsh conditions.

Facile Approach to Fabricate a High-Performance Superhydrophobic Mesh.

When superhydrophobic meshes are used for oil/water separation, high flux and high intrusion pressure are usually compromised. Herein, a high-performance superhydrophobic stainless steel mesh membrane with a hairy-like poly(divinylbenzene) (PDVB) coating is fabricated by precipitated cationic polymerization. The synthesis is facile, which is completed in one step at ambient temperature within a short time, i.e., less than 90 s. The unique hair-like microstructure of PDVB is responsible for the superhydrophobic performance with less blockage for the pores. A higher flux for oil is achieved while keeping a high intrusion pressure. Especially, the ellipsoidal pore texture with two sharp tips can give additional high intrusion pressure. In the case of 2800 mesh, the superhydrophobic mesh displays an unprecedentedly high value of up to 22 kPa while maintaining a high flux of 2.0 × 104 L·m-2·h-1. The high intrusion pressure enables further increment of flux to 4.2 × 104 L·m-2·h-1 under a reduced pressure at a higher loading. The current high-performance superhydrophobic mesh realizes higher efficiency in separating oil/water mixtures, which is promising for practical applications, for example, in industrial extraction.

A facile preparation of superhydrophobic L-CNC-coated meshes for oil–water separation

A superhydrophobic stainless steel mesh (called “mesh” in short) is an ideal device to solve oil pollution accidents by oil–water separation. However, its widespread application is prevented by complicated preparation, weak durability, and particularly poor mechanical strength. It is well known that the used adhesives play a key role in the mechanical strength of superhydrophobic coatings. In this study, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and polydimethylsiloxanes (PDMSs) were respectively used as adhesives and lignin-nanocellulose crystal (L-CNC) particles as main structure materials to prepare L-CNC coated superhydrophobic meshes. Moreover, the meshes coated with L-CNC/PVDF and L-CNC/PDMS were compared with respect to the properties of wettability, sandpaper abrasion, oil–water separation, etc. The results showed that the L-CNC/PVDF-coated mesh had a higher water contact angle (WCA = 154.2°) than the L-CNC/PDMS-coated one (WCA = 152.6°), but worse abrasion resistance. Both of them showed high-efficiency oil/water separation with collection rates above 94.5% and stable reusable ability as the oil collection rates for toluene was still above 93.8% after reusing thirty times, meanwhile showing good heat, UV, acid and alkaline resistance properties.

A One-Step Preparation of Superhydrophobic Stainless Steel Mesh as a Coalescer for Oil-Water Separation of Raffinate in Solvent Extraction

A One-Step Preparation of Superhydrophobic Stainless Steel Mesh as a Coalescer for Oil-Water Separation of Raffinate in Solvent Extraction

Facile fabrication of superhydrophobic fly ash-coated mesh for oil-water separation

The pollution of water by oil is a global challenge. In this study, the design and fabrication of a superhydrophobic stainless steel mesh are reported. This was achieved through a sample “glue + fly ash” fabrication method. The fly ash was first modified by a stearic acid solution impregnation method. After the modification, the fly ash was then bonded to the surface of a stainless-steel mesh by an epoxy resin solution to obtain the superhydrophobic mesh. The introduction to the modified fly ash endows the mesh with excellent corrosion resistance and superhydrophobicity when compared with the original mesh. The as-prepared mesh could separate various oil and organic solvents from water with a separation efficiency exceeding 98%. Interestingly, the oil separation capacity of the as-prepared mesh still kept a high value after 30 cycles of reuse. The simplicity, eco-friendliness and low cost of this method turn it into a practical and realistic approach to the large-scale fabrication of superhydrophobic surfaces. These properties make the as-prepared mesh an ideal candidate for actual oily wastewater treatment.

Superhydrophobic Stainless-Steel Mesh with Excellent Electrothermal Properties for Efficient Separation of Highly Viscous Water-in-Crude Oil Emulsions

The separation of tiny water droplets from viscous crude oil is urgently needed and still remains a substantial challenge because of severe membrane fouling resulting from the high viscosity and ad...

Biomimetic superhydrophobic and antibacterial stainless-steel mesh via double-potentiostatic electrodeposition and modification

Inspired by the antifouling property of superhydrophobic surfaces of creatures, developing hybrid materials by loading antibacterial agents of silver nanoparticles on the superhydrophobic stainless-steel meshes, has been successfully achieved by the combination of double-potential deposition and in-situ polymerization grafting method. This study systematically investigated the effects of influencing factors on the Ag nanoparticles topography in the electrodeposition process, including nucleation potential, nucleation time, growth potential and growth time etc. According to the results of the inhibition zone test, from the comparative analysis of the antibacterial effect of the prepared specimens under different deposition parameters, it can be seen that the growth time during the double-potential deposition process had a relatively significant effect. Meanwhile, the presence of Ag nanoparticles is favor to improve the polymerization grafting of PDA@ODA compounds, which exhibited a superhydrophobic state with WCA of 160.6° and SA of 3°. No matter in static or dynamic culture process, the superhydrophobic surfaces were beneficial for reducing bacterial adhesion, ascribed to the superhydrophobic and antibacterial performance associated with the synergistic effect of organic PDA@ODA compounds and inorganic Ag nanoparticles. Moreover, the superhydrophobic stainless-steel mesh have good long-term stability and mechanical stability, which is favor to expand the application scope and working life.

Preparation of superhydrophobic mesh and application in multi-stage parallel oil/water separation system

Oil/water separation has become a worldwide problem due to the industrial oil pollution and oil-spill accident. Here, the superhydrophobic stainless steel mesh was coated with hydrophobic fumed silica (TS720) and vinyltrimethoxysilane (VTMO) using dip-coating method. The water contact angle was measured to be 152 ± 0.8° and oil contact angle was 0°, which indicated that the coated mesh exhibits good superhydrophobic and superoleophilic properties. Therefore, the coated mesh could be applied to separate different kind of oil/water mixture and the separation efficiency of gasoline/water mixture was up to 95%. Furthermore, the coated mesh had a high recyclability that could maintain separation efficiency above 92.5% after 50 separation cycles, meanwhile, the VTMO/TS720 coated mesh also could keep good separation property under acid or alkali salt environment, showing good potential for industrialized oil/water separation. In addition, utilizing superhydrophobic mesh materials in multi-stage parallel oil/water separation device for industrialized oil/water separation was proposed in this work.