Cation-controlled wetting properties of vermiculite membranes and its promise for fouling resistant oilwater separation
- Title
- Cation-controlled wetting properties of vermiculite membranes and its promise for fouling resistant oilwater separation
- Creator
- Huang K.; Rowe P.; Chi C.; Sreepal V.; Bohn T.; Zhou K.-G.; Su Y.; Prestat E.; Pillai P.B.; Cherian C.T.; Michaelides A.; Nair R.R.
- Description
- Manipulating the surface energy, and thereby the wetting properties of solids, has promise for various physical, chemical, biological and industrial processes. Typically, this is achieved by either chemical modification or by controlling the hierarchical structures of surfaces. Here we report a phenomenon whereby the wetting properties of vermiculite laminates are controlled by the hydrated cations on the surface and in the interlamellar space. We find that vermiculite laminates can be tuned from superhydrophilic to hydrophobic simply by exchanging the cations; hydrophilicity decreases with increasing cation hydration free energy, except for lithium. The lithium-exchanged vermiculite laminate is found to provide a superhydrophilic surface due to its anomalous hydrated structure at the vermiculite surface. Building on these findings, we demonstrate the potential application of superhydrophilic lithium exchanged vermiculite as a thin coating layer on microfiltration membranes to resist fouling, and thus, we address a major challenge for oilwater separation technology. 2020, The Author(s).
- Source
- Nature Communications, Vol-11, No. 1
- Date
- 2020-01-01
- Publisher
- Nature Research
- Coverage
- Huang K., National Graphene Institute, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom, Department of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom; Rowe P., Thomas Young Centre, London Centre for Nanotechnology, and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom; Chi C., National Graphene Institute, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom, Department of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom; Sreepal V., National Graphene Institute, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom, Department of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom; Bohn T., National Graphene Institute, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom, Department of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom; Zhou K.-G., National Graphene Institute, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom, Department of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom, Institute of Molecular Plus, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China; Su Y., National Graphene Institute, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom, Department of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom, Department of Materials, Loughborough University, Loughborough, LE11 3TU, United Kingdom; Prestat E., Department of Materials, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom; Pillai P.B., National Graphene Institute, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom, Department of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom; Cherian C.T., National Graphene Institute, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom, Department of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom, Department of Physics and Electronics, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bangalore, 560029, India; Michaelides A., Thomas Young Centre, London Centre for Nanotechnology, and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom; Nair R.R., National Graphene Institute, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom, Department of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom, Henry Royce Institute for Advanced Materials, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom
- Rights
- All Open Access; Gold Open Access; Green Open Access
- Relation
- ISSN: 20411723; PubMed ID: 32107369
- Format
- Online
- Language
- English
- Type
- Article
Collection
Citation
Huang K.; Rowe P.; Chi C.; Sreepal V.; Bohn T.; Zhou K.-G.; Su Y.; Prestat E.; Pillai P.B.; Cherian C.T.; Michaelides A.; Nair R.R., “Cation-controlled wetting properties of vermiculite membranes and its promise for fouling resistant oilwater separation,” CHRIST (Deemed To Be University) Institutional Repository, accessed February 24, 2025, https://archives.christuniversity.in/items/show/16144.