Self-healing and Superwettable Nanofibrous Membrane with Excellent Stability towards Multifunctional Applications in Water Purification.

Considering the complexity of injurious ingredients in practical polluted water, development of energy- and labor-saving and environmentally friendly multifunctional materials to decontaminate wastewater is of great necessity. Herein, a multifunctional branched poly (ethylenimine) (bPEI) and poly (acrylic acid) (PAA)/tungsten ox-ide/polyacrylonitrile (PP/WO3/PAN) composite membrane was fabricated by the combination of blow-spinning and layer-by-layer methods. The incorporated WO3 in generated in hydrophilic PAN fibers by spinning the precursor method, which simultaneously reveals remarkable photodegradation performance towards mimetic organic pollutions and excellent antibacterial activity due to their electron synergetic effect. In addition, the micro-nano porous structure of PP/WO3/PAN composite membrane also ensures its good oil-water separation performance. Moreover, the reduc-tion reaction of W atoms in the WO3 network upon solar irradiation endow the membrane superior heavy mental ions removal capability. Significantly, the membrane exhibits water-enabled self-healing performance due to the coated polyelectrolyte layer. More importantly, the membrane was easily scale-up, free-standing, durable, biocompatible and no added toxic effect to surrounding environments. These outstanding performances making the membrane a great potential application in wastewater treatment.