Fabrication Of Copper Mesh With Special Wettability And Application In Oil/Water Separation

Nature is the cradle of scientists and engineers,and is the source of inspiration for human.The self-cleaning of the lotus leaf and the super-hydrophobic phenomenon of the water skipper floating on the water attracts widespread attention.Inspired by these phenomena,many methods of preparing surface wetting materials have been developed,but most of them have the disadvantages of high preparation cost,unfriendly environment,and complicated operation,which limits their large-scale application.Therefore,the development of a new type of practical oil-water separation material has become a hot topic of current research.In this paper,micro-nanostructures were prepared on the surface of copper mesh by etching method,and oil-water separation materials with super-hydrophobicity and wettability switchability were successfully synthesized.The material was analyzed by various methods and the oil-water separation performance was tested.The paper mainly includes the following three parts:1.The columnar micro-nano structure was constructed on the surface of the copper mesh by etching to prepare a switchable wettability oil-water separation material.The surface of the freshly prepared Cu₂S filter membrane was hydrophilic and lipophilic.After placing the freshly copper mesh in the air for two days,the surface became a hydrophobic and lipophilic material.When the hydrophobic Cu₂S filter membrane was soaked in ethanol solution,the surface returned to the hydrophilic and lipophilic.The crystalline structure of the Cu₂S filter membrane was determined by XRD and Raman characterization.Analyzing the high-resolution C 1s spectrum,it was found that the main reason for the wettability transition of the filter surface was the hydrophobic functional group C/C=C and the hydrophilicity functional group C-O、O-C=O ratio changed.Cu₂S membrane not only has low adhesion,but also separates oil-water mixtures as required.2.The copper mesh was immersed in 8%N,N-dimethylformamide（DMF）solution at 95℃ for 24 hours,and cubic cuprous oxide was formed on the surface,showing hydrophobicity.After 1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorodecyltriethoxysilane modification,the contact angle of the copper mesh surface reached 154°,and the surface wettability reached superhydrophobic.XPS and mapping spectra showed that 1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorodecyltriethoxysilane reacted with the copper mesh and was uniformly modified on the surface of the copper mesh.The experiment is simple,has good oil-water separation performance,and is suitable for large-scale industrial production.3.The copper mesh is immersed in a low-concentration 1H,1H,2H,2H-Perfluorodecanethiol solution,the copper mesh has super hydrophobic properties.Then a series of characterizations of its morphology,elemental composition and wettability were carried out.The thiol reacted with the copper mesh,not only the rough micro-nano structures were prepared on the surface,but also 1H,1H,2H,2H-Perfluorodecanethiol was uniformly modified the surface of the copper mesh.The copper mesh prepared by this method can separate the oil-water mixture and deal with the problem of offshore oil leakage.