Low-pressure-driven special wettable graphene oxide-based membrane for efficient separation of water-in-oil emulsions

Abstract Oil and water separation is a significant challenge due to the rapid discharge of oily wastewater. Special wettable membranes have received substantial consideration in emulsified oil/water separation. Here, superhydrophobic octadecyl-functionalized crosslinked graphene-oxide-grafted ceramic membrane (R18-CLGO-N-CM) was designed separate water-in-oil emulsions. The selective layer evaluated using molecular dynamics simulation studies understand its mechanism capabilities. underwater oil contact angle on surface R18-CLGO-N-CM dramatically reduced, from 141.3° ± 1.5° 0°, air increased 0° 152.8° 0.6°, after functionalization. High hexane permeability observed range 294 311 Lm −2 h −1 . graphene oxide acts as an excellent separating selectively allow passage with efficiency ~99% for emulsion. show antifouling behavior while dealing water-in-heavy functionalized restored flux recovery ratio 98.5% by simply treating dichloromethane water-in-light This work shows that rational functionalization grafting 2D materials can significantly enhance characteristics performance membranes.