Self-assembled polymeric nanosheet-anchored nanofiber membrane for emulsion separation.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 41233362.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-025-64958-y and PMC identifier 12615735.
- Licence recorded as CC BY-NC-ND.
- Because redistribution is not established, this page shows the abstract only. Follow the links below for the full text.
Abstract
High-performance water-oil separation materials are essential to reduce environmental pollution and improve resource utilization towards achieving carbon neutrality; however, most present separation materials are limited by the monotonous pore structure and uncontrollable interface, resulting in low separation efficiency and flux. Here, we develop a facile electrohydrodynamic strategy, based on the electrospray-sheeting technique, to create self-assembled polymeric nanosheet-anchored nanofiber membranes, for high-performance emulsion separation. By manipulating relative humidity to fabricate stem-like nanofibers and regulating their topological structure to control the resulting microelectric field, polymer-charged droplets are induced to deform and then innovatively assemble into leaf-like nanosheets anchored on the nanofibers, thereby constructing the membrane with hierarchical stem-leaf-like nanoarchitecture. The nanoarchitecture with superwettable pore channels enables the obtained membrane to simultaneously achieve striking separation efficiency (>99.32%) and flux (up to 4179 L m<sup>-2</sup> h<sup>-1</sup>) for water-in-oil emulsions, all attributed to its supercapillary and demulsification-interception effects. This work may provide a distinctive platform for the development of advanced nanomaterials for filtration and purification.