A stable eco-friendly superhydrophobic/superoleophilic copper mesh fabricated by one-step immersion for efficient oil/water separation

With the frequently happened oil spill accidents and increasing discharge of industrial oily wastewater, oil/water separation has become a global challenge for protecting ecological environments. In this research, a super-hydrophobic and superoleophilic copper mesh is prepared by a simple one-step immersion approach. A hydrophobic original copper mesh (OCM) turns into a superhydrophobic copper mesh (SHCM) after being immersed in stearic acid ethanol solution for 24 h. The as-fabricated SHCM demonstrates a separation efficiency of over 97% for different oil/water mixtures, and an oil flux of > 90 kL.h(-1).m(-2). Moreover, the SHCM exhibits excellent stability under different working conditions. The SHCM obtained by such simple, scalable, and low cost one-step approach, holds great promise for future applications in oil/water separation.