What question did this study set out to answer?

This research aims to develop a smart membrane for effective separation of oil-water emulsions and catalysis of dye degradation.

December 12, 2025

Smart Thermoresponsive CoZn-ZIF Decorated PVDF/PNIPAM Nanofiber Membrane for Switchable Emulsion Separation and Catalytic Dye Degradation

Puntos clave

This research aims to develop a smart membrane for effective separation of oil-water emulsions and catalysis of dye degradation.
Fabrication of a thermoresponsive membrane using CoZn-ZIF on PVDF/PNIPAM fibers.
Evaluation of switchable wettability between superhydrophilic and superhydrophobic states.
Testing the membrane's performance for separating oil-in-water and water-in-oil emulsions.
Achieved over 1900 L·m-2·h-1 water flux and 1150 L·m-2·h-1 oil flux.
Separation efficiencies reached above 99.00% for O/W and 99.60% for W/O emulsions.
Methylene blue removal efficiency was 99.92% within 15 minutes using activated peroxymonosulfate.

Resumen

The development of intelligent, environmentally responsive oil-water separation membranes with reversible wettability presents a promising strategy for controllable emulsion separation and the advanced treatment of complex oily wastewater. Wastewater. In this study, a novel thermally responsive membrane with switchable wettability between superhydrophilic and superhydrophobic states was fabricated via in situ growth of bimetallic metal-organic frameworks (CoZn-ZIF) on electrospun poly(vinylidene fluoride)/poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PVDF/PNIPAM) nanofiber membranes. The resulting PVDF/PNIPAM@CoZn-ZIF membrane leverages the thermally induced reversible conformational transition of PNIPAM to exhibit underwater superoleophobicity below its lower critical solution temperature (LCST) and under-oil superhydrophobicity above LCST. This switchable wettability enabled efficient on-demand separation of both oil-in-water (O/W) and water-in-oil (W/O) emulsions, achieving water permeation fluxes exceeding 1900 L·m-2·h-1 and oil permeation fluxes over 1150 L·m-2·h-1, with separation efficiencies above 99.00% and 99.60%, respectively. Moreover, the embedded Co1Zn3-ZIF served as a catalyst to activate peroxymonosulfate (PMS), generating reactive oxygen species (·OH and·SO4-) and enabling rapid degradation of methylene blue, with a removal efficiency of 99.92% within 15 min. This study presents a multifunctional composite membrane as an intelligent, efficient platform for integrated oil-water emulsion separation and organic pollutant remediation.

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