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Self-assembled silica aerogel-coated polylactic acid membrane for water-in-oil emulsion separation

  • Original Paper: Functional coatings, thin films and membranes (including deposition techniques)
  • Published:
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Abstract

The separation of oil-water system is of great significance to environmental protection, but the efficient separation of water-in-oil emulsions with emulsifier still faces challenges. Herein, the hydrophobic silica (SiO2) aerogel and microporous polylactic acid (PLA) membrane were prepared firstly, then the SiO2 aerogel was deposited on the surface of PLA by self-assembly, an effective SiO2 aerogel @ PLA membrane for water-in-oil emulsions separation was prepared. Low surface energy and multi-scale roughness were achieved simultaneously by uniformly assembling SiO2 aerogel on PLA surface. SiO2 aerogel dramatically enhanced the hydrophobicity of PLA membrane, and the in-air water contact angle was reached to 150o. Benefiting from the super lipophilic property in air and super hydrophobicity under oil, SiO2 aerogel @ PLA membrane exhibited excellent separation ability for surfactant stabilized water-in-oil emulsions. This work provided experimental and theoretical basis for excellent water-in-oil emulsions separation, and showed great significance in environmental protection.

Graphical Abstract

Highlights

  • SiO2 aerogel @ PLA microporous membrane was prepared by self-assembly.

  • The membrane possessed super hydrophobicity and the in-air water contact angle was 150o.

  • The membrane showed separation efficiency for the surfactant-stabilized water-in-oil emulsion.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Rubber–Plastics, Ministry of Education/Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Rubber–Plastics, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266042, China

    Chunshuai Lu, Xianhua Lang, Zhen Yu, Lijuan Yang & Zhenxiu Zhang

  2. College of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, 100029, China

    Menghan Yang

Authors
  1. Chunshuai Lu
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  2. Xianhua Lang
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  3. Zhen Yu
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  4. Lijuan Yang
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  5. Menghan Yang
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  6. Zhenxiu Zhang
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by CL, XL and MY. The first draft of the manuscript was written by ZY, LY and ZZ and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Zhenxiu Zhang.

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Lu, C., Lang, X., Yu, Z. et al. Self-assembled silica aerogel-coated polylactic acid membrane for water-in-oil emulsion separation. J Sol-Gel Sci Technol 105, 694–700 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-023-06045-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-023-06045-6

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