Facile design of superhydrophobic and superoleophilic copper mesh assisted by candle soot for oil water separation

摘要

Graphical abstractBy facile modification with candle soot on the copper mesh, the candle assisted Cu-Cu-C superhydrophobic and superoleophilic film is prepared on copper mesh, and acts a tool to separate oil-water mixtures effectively and quickly. The process is short time consuming and low cost without any organic reagent and complicated chemical reaction.Display OmittedAbstractOil water separation techniques have attracted more and more attention due to the increasing accidents of oil spills in marine transportation, food, and other industry fields. Oily waste water and water-cut oil are harmful to the ecological environment and human health. However, traditional separation methods posed low efficiency and high cost. So low cost, simple process and high efficiency separation materials are urgently needed. In this work, a low cost carbon nanoparticles acted as hydrophobic materials were used to modify rough copper mesh during the candle combustion. Surface morphology was observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM), and surface wettability was tested by contact angle (CA) meter.Experimental results showed that water CA of the mesh after modification were above 150°, and oil CA is less than 5°, which showed good super-hydrophobicity and superoleophilicity. Additiona