Mil-53(Fe)-loaded polyacrylonitrile membrane with superamphiphilicity and double hydrophobicity for effective emulsion separation and photocatalytic dye degradation

Abstract Environmental pollution caused by oily wastewater, which frequently contains large amounts of organic dyes, has become increasingly serious. Super-wetting materials possessing special wettability have been widely used in membrane separation technology, with the excellent emulsion separation performance shown to be related to the specific surface morphology. In this study, metal–organic framework Mil-53(Fe) was successfully synthesized through solvothermal reaction and added to a precursor solution containing polyacrylonitrile powder for electrospinning. The resulting fibrous matrix membrane exhibites superamphilicity in air, superoleophobicity in water, and superhydrophobicity in oil, with separation efficiency for various oil-in-water emulsions reaching over 95%. Furthermore, this membrane exhibites self-cleaning and corrosion-resistant properties, and could be recycled after ten consecutive cycles. The degradation efficiency toward several organic dyes was simulated in visible light, combined with persulfate, achieving 100% degradation. Therefore, this membrane has potential applications in emulsion separation and dye degradation.