Preparation And Performance Evaluation Of Superhydrophobic Superhydrophilic Copper Mesh

With the development of the petroleum industry,the discharge of oily wastewater is increasing,which seriously affects human production and the natural environment.Traditional oil-water separation methods,such as flocculation,flotation,biological filtration,etc.,however,these methods have the disadvantages of low separation efficiency,poor recyclability,and even cause secondary pollution.Superhydrophobic materials are emerging oil-water separation materials.In this paper,the copper mesh was used as the substrate,and the preparation methods of superhydrophobic copper meshes were studied: burning method and chemical etching method.The copper mesh was burned in the air to form copper oxide by the burning method,so that the surface of the copper mesh was roughened,and then the surface was modified by using a low surface energy substance,palmitic acid.Then the superhydrophobic copper meshes were made.A ferric nitrate solution with strong oxidizing property was used to immerse the copper mesh by the chemical etching method,and then a low surface energy substance,palmitic acid,was used to modify the surface to own superhydrophobic properties.Comparing the two methods,the chemical etching method was more simple and easier to operate,and the obtained copper mesh had better hydrophobic properties.Therefore,the effects of immersing temperature,immersing concentration and immersing time on the hydrophobic properties of copper mesh in the chemical etching method were systematically studied.The optimal conditions were optimized by orthogonal experiment.When the concentration of ferric nitrate was 4%,the temperature was 60?,the immersed time was 4 h,the prepared copper mesh had the best hydrophobic performance,and the contact angle was over then 158 °.The wear resistance,chemical resistance and temperature resistance of the copper mesh were evaluated.The superhydrophobic copper mesh had excellent acid resistance(10% hydrochloric acid),alkali resistance(10% sodium hydroxide),and temperature resistance(150? for 24h),but the copper mesh had poor wear resistance.The oil-water separation performance of the superhydrophobic copper mesh was also evaluated.For different types of oil mixtures and different oil-water ratio mixtures,the oil-water separation effect can reach more than 98%.