Multifunctional oil-water and immiscible organic liquid separation by micropore arrayed Ti foil

Abstract In this work a multifunctional micropore array (size from 5 to 42 μm) was produced by using one-step femtosecond laser microdrilling for oil-water and oil-oil separation. This novel method has many advantages, such as high precision (size error is less than 1 μm), simple operation (one step), extensible function (even complex microstructures) just to name a few. The prepared foil exhibited superhydrophilic and underwater superoleophobic properties, which can be used to separate the light oil (C 8 H 18 ) and water mixtures. After heating in dark environment 0.5 h, the prepared foil showed superhydrophobic and underwater superoleophilic properties, and can be used to separate the heavy oil (C 2 H 4 Cl 2 ) and water mixtures. In addition, the heated sample also showed robust ability to separate the immiscible organic liquid mixtures (formamide and C 2 H 4 Cl 2 ), exhibiting multifunctional applications. Interestingly, the heated samples would recover its original superhydrophilicity after UV irradiation in ethanol for 1 h. The samples don’t contain any fluorinated compounds and display environmental stability even after sonic cleaning and scratch. This work will provide a new insight into the design of intelligent devices for oil/water mixtures separation, organic liquid mixtures separation, and water droplet manipulation.