Superwettable neuron-inspired polyurethane nanofibrous materials with efficient selective separation performance towards various fluids

The filtration membranes for selective separating mixture of fluids or particles are of great importance to numerous fields, ranging from pharmaceutical industries, automotive industry, and chemical engineering to individual protection. However, current membranes are difficult to simultaneously attained high separation efficiency, high flux, and easy to scale up, which have restricted their practical applications. Herein, we have prepared the neuron-like polyurethane nanofibrous materials with numerous cavities among fibers and beads. The resultant membranes exhibited underoil superhydrophobicity (163(degrees)), extremely low adhesion force (1.13 mu N), and sliding angle (1.7 degrees). The superwettability, small pore size, high porosity, and interconnected pore channel endowed the membranes with good separation performance towards water-in-oil emulsions, including high separation efficiency of 99.44%, permeation flux of 3874 L m(-2) h(-1), and good reusability in 15 cycles. In addition, the neuron-like PU nanofibrous membranes presented intriguing waterproof performance with water vapor transmission rate of 10592.3 g m(-2) d(-1). Furthermore, the neuron-like PU nanofibrous membranes exhibited superior separation performance towards both sodium chloride and oily aerosol particles with filtration efficiency > 99.99%, pressure drop of similar to 90 Pa, and quality factor value > 0.1. The good selective separation performance of prepared PU nanofibrous membranes paves a way for fabricating filters for the separation of air/particles, oil/particles, emulsions, and water/moisture in different fields.

Automated summary

Researchers have successfully prepared neuron-like polyurethane nanofibrous membranes with excellent performance in separating fluid and particle mixtures, including high separation efficiency, high flux, and good reusability. Additionally, the membranes exhibit superhydrophobic and waterproof properties, making them suitable for various filter applications in different fields.