A cross-linked coating decorated mesh prepared by brush-painting method for oil-in-water emulsions separation

Abstract It is still a challenge to fabricate low-cost, large-scale, and environmentally friendly materials with special wettability for oil/water emulsions separation. Here, a cross-linked poly(vinyl alcohol)/glutaraldehyde/attapulgite/titanium dioxide coating was decorated on stainless steel mesh through a simple brush-painting approach, endowing it with superhydrophilicity/underwater superoleophobicity. The coating filled the mesh pores, achieving oil-in-water emulsions separation by effective "size-sieving" effect. The as-prepared mesh possessed good separation performance with rejection up to 97.5%. Furthermore, it maintained underwater superoleophobicity after 5 meters of abrasion with sandpaper, exhibiting excellent abrasion resistance. All the ingredients of the coating are low-cost and green industrial chemicals, as well as the preparation process is easy to scale-up, making the developed filtration material become a quite potential choice in practical emulsions separation.