Preparation of an electrospun tubular PU/GE nanofiber membrane for high flux oil/water separation

Abstract

A simple, tubular structure polyurethane/graphene (PU/GE) nanofiber membrane for continuous oil/water separation was prepared using the following strategies: a polyester (PET) fiber braided tube was used for reinforcement, stearic acid (SA) was used to assist GE dispersion, and a PU solution containing GE was used to cover the outer layer of the PET fiber braided tube using the electrospinning method. Specifically, the PU/GE nanofiber membrane has a multi-branched structure. The tubular braid reinforced (TBR) PU/GE nanofiber membrane was characterized using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), confocal scanning microscopy (CSM) and capillary flow porometry. The contact angle results showed that the TBR PU/GE nanofiber membrane had good hydrophobic and lipophilic properties. The obtained membranes had good oil/water selectivity for oil–water separation (with a separation efficiency up to 99%). In addition, the optimized membrane can be effectively employed to separate a surfactant-stabilized water-in-oil emulsion with a separation efficiency up to 90% and a high permeate flux (137.5 L m⁻² h⁻¹). Our TBR PU/GE nanofiber membrane is therefore a desirable material for the highly efficient separation of water-in-oil emulsions, and shows broad application prospects in the field of oil/water separation.