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Perflurooctyltriethoxy silane and carbon nanotubes-modified PVDF superoleophilic nanofibre membrane for oil-in-water adsorption and recovery

Abstract:

Due to the increased rate of oil spills leading to environmental water pollution, the synthesis of nanofibre membranes with controlled superhydrophobic/superoleophilic properties has received remarkable attention for oil-water separation. In this research, superhydrophobic-superoleophilic nanofibre membranes were successfully prepared through a three-step deposition of perflurooctyltriethoxy silane (POTS) to carbon nanotubes (CNTs) followed by dispersing the mixture in polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) polymer solution prior to electrospinning. Upon the addition of POTS/CNTs on the nanofibre membranes, the hydrophobicity increased from 96.35° to 143.30°, thus, resulting in improved oil adsorption capacity from 60.20 to 111.4 g·g-1. The intraparticle diffusion model provided the information on external mass transfer and diffusion of the oil from the oleophilic sites of the adsorption active sites. The CNTs/POTS-modified PVDF nanofibre membranes demonstrated high adsorption efficiencies ∼99% towards avocado, sunflower, engine, and motor oils. Based on Chi-square test statistics, the adsorption of oils on CNTs/POTS-modified PVDF nanofibre membranes followed the first-order kinetics. The rate constants increased from 0.019 to 0.034 g·g-1 min-1 upon the incorporation of CNTs/POTS on PVDF nanofibre membranes; thus, indicating the improvement of adsorption of oils. Remarkably, PVDF-based nanofibre membranes were recycled and reused for more than 37 cycles, confirming their potential application for environmental oil-water separation.