Premium
Tunable Wettability of Electrospun Polyurethane/Silica Composite Membranes for Effective Separation of Water‐in‐Oil and Oil‐in‐Water Emulsions
Author(s) -
Fang Wenyuan,
Liu Libin,
Guo Gailan
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
chemistry – a european journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.687
H-Index - 242
eISSN - 1521-3765
pISSN - 0947-6539
DOI - 10.1002/chem.201701409
Subject(s) - membrane , wetting , electrospinning , materials science , chemical engineering , polyurethane , contact angle , composite number , polymer , pulmonary surfactant , emulsion , polymer chemistry , composite material , chemistry , engineering , biochemistry
Polymer‐dominated membranes with switchable wettability are highly desired due to their on‐demand applications for oil/water separation. Herein, a low‐cost methodology to fabricate membranes consisting of hyperbranched polyurethane (HBPU) and fluorine‐modified silica (F‐SiO 2 ) with tunable wettability by electrospinning is reported. The HBPU/F‐SiO 2 composite membranes can be transformed from superhydrophobicity to ‐philicity through plasma treatment; these membranes exhibit different wettability for effective separation of surfactant‐stabilized water‐in‐oil and oil‐in‐water emulsions.