基于仿生锥形结构的油水分离材料研究及应用

The evolution of environmental protection and the industry requires efficient methods for oil-water separation, which is of great importance to human’s life. However, for most conventional and mesh oil-water separation materials, there are many defects existing, such as low efficiency, low throughput, cannot separate micron-sized oil droplets, hard to recycle, cannot use in harsh environment, et al. There are still two scientific problems unsolved: one is how to separate micron-sized oil droplets from water rapidly, the other is how to avoid oil droplets adsorbing on the materials’ surfaces without desorption. Herein, this project will learn from the natural evolution, solve these scientific problems via bio-mimetic interface science. The key is the capture and directional transportation of micron-sized droplets. Based on this, this project will start from the bio-mimetic cactus-like conical structure, reveal the corresponding relationship between structure and function, regulate the surface morphology and chemical composition of micro-sized oil-water separation/collection materials, and introduce the special wettability system. The final results are realizing continuous and efficient separation of emulsion with surfactant, oil-water separation in harsh environment such as concentrated acid/base/salt, and expanding the application to the separation of other multi-phase mixture systems.

油水分离技术是环境保护和轻重工业发展的重要保障，与人类的生产生活密不可分。但是传统油水分离材料及网膜油水分离材料等有着种种问题，例如分离效果差、通量小、无法分离微小油滴、难以回收或重复使用、无法连续分离、难以在苛刻的环境下使用等等。油水分离的科学问题依然没有完全解决：一是如何使微小的液滴迅速脱离连续相，二是如何避免已分离的液相附着在材料上影响分离效果。本项目拟通过向大自然千百万年的进化成果学习，用仿生的界面科学方法解决油水分离的科学问题，核心是对微小液滴的捕获和定向收集。基于此，本项目拟从仿仙人掌锥形结构出发，揭示结构-功能之间的对应关系，对微小尺度油滴分离/收集材料的表面结构和化学组成进行优化调控，并引入特殊浸润性体系，实现对含有表面活性剂的乳液的连续高效分离、强酸强碱高盐等苛刻环境下的油水分离、以及扩展到其他多相混合体系的分离。

本青年科学基金项目从仿生理念出发，围绕仿生锥形结构材料体系的构筑与应用中的若干关键科学问题开展了深入的研究，通过向自然学习，结合现代材料科学、分子科学、纳米科学与技术的发展，重点着眼于微观液滴在各向异性表面的动态行为研究，为锥形结构在相分离方向的研究及应用提供了重要支撑。揭示了仿生锥形结构与相应收集功能之间的构-效关系并建立了分析模型，在仿生超浸润界面材料、高效相分离及非对称结构下的高速定向驱动等方面取得了具有原创性的成果，发表SCI收录论文3篇，其中Adv. Mater. 1篇，Adv. Funct. Mater. 1 篇，J. Mater. Chem. A 1篇，在注重基础科学原始创新的同时，拓展了仿生锥形材料的应用领域，逐步形成基础与应用相结合的研究特色，对高新技术的发展起着重要的推动和支撑作用，并在环境、农业、能源、健康、资源等领域具有广阔的应用前景。