Construction of Self-Cleaning Membrane Integrating Underwater Superoleophobicity, Photocatalysis, and Antibacterial Activity for Water Purification

Abstract

The treatment of oily wastewater and oil/water mixtures has received more and more attention. In this study, a Zn-MOF (ZIF-8) decorated polyimide (PI) nanofiber membrane with triple self-cleaning performance was constructed, and the decoration of ZIF-8 on the PI membrane improved the hydrophilicity of the composite membrane, which further enhanced the underwater oil resistance, and the mechanical properties of the membranes improved significantly with the increase of in situ growth time. In addition, the inherent photocatalytic and antibacterial properties of ZIF-8 endowed the membranes with fantastic performance. When the in situ growth time was 24 h, the degradation efficiency for methylene blue was nearly 90% within 60 min under visible light. The ZIF-8@PI membrane has significant antibacterial effect against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. This triple self-cleaning is an important step forward in both the multifunctional application and sustainable development of materials.