A Sunlight-Driven Self-Cleaning CuCo-MOF Composite Membrane for Highly Efficient Emulsion Separation and Water Purification.

The fouling phenomenon of membranes has hindered the rapid development of separation technology in wastewater treatment. The integration of materials into membranes with both excellent separation performance and self-cleaning properties still pose challenges. Here, a self-assembled composite membrane with solar-driven self-cleaning performance is reported for the treatment of complex oil-water emulsions. The mechanical robustness of the composite membrane is enhanced by the electrostatic attraction between chitosan and metal-organic frameworks (MOF) CuCo-HHTP as well as the crosslinking effect of glutaraldehyde. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations also revealed the hydrogen bonding interaction between chitosan and CuCo-HHTP. The composite membrane of CuCo-HHTP-5@CS/MPVDF exhibits a high flux ranging from 700.6 to 2350.6 L∙m-2∙h-1∙bar-1 and excellent separation efficiency (>99.0%) for various oil-water emulsions, including crude oil, kerosene, and other light oils. The addition of CuCo-HHTP shows remarkable photothermal effects, thus demonstrating excellent solar-driven self-cleaning capability and antibacterial performance (with an efficiency of ≈100%). Furthermore, CuCo-HHTP-5@CS/MPVDF can activate peroxomonosulfate (PMS) under sunlight, quickly removing oil-fouling and dyes. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations indicate that the bimetallic sites of Cu and Co in CuCo-HHTP effectively promoted the activation of PMS. This study provides distinctive insights into the multifaceted applications of MOFs-derived photothermal anti-fouling composite membranes.

Superhydrophobic Co-MOF-based sponge for efficient oil-water separation utilizing photothermal effect.

Effectively addressing crude oil spills remains a global challenge due to its high viscosity and limited flow characteristics. In this study, we successfully prepared a modified sponge (PCP@MS) by embedding the photothermal material of Co-HHTP and coating the melamine sponge (MS) with low-surface-energy polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). The PCP@MS exhibited outstanding hydrophobicity with WCA of 160.2° and high oil absorption capacity of 59-107 g/g. The PCP@MS showed high separation efficiency of 99.2% for various oil-water mixtures, along with notable self-cleaning properties and mechanical stability. The internal micro-nano hierarchical structure on the sponge surface significantly enhanced light absorption, synergizing with the photo-thermal conversion properties of Co-HHTP, enabled PCP@MS to achieve a surface temperature of 109.2 °C under 1.0 solar light within 300 s. With the aid of solar radiation, PCP@MS is able to heat up quickly and successfully lowering the viscosity of the surrounding crude oil, resulting in an oil recovery rate of 8.76 g/min. Density functional theory (DFT) calculation results revealed that Co-HHTP featured a zero-gap band structure, rendering advantageous electronic properties for full-wavelength light absorption. This in situ solar-heated absorbent design is poised to advance the practical application of viscous oil spill cleanup and recovery.