IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v15y2024i1d10.1038_s41467-024-52108-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Springtail-inspired omniphobic slippery membrane with nano-concave re-entrant structures for membrane distillation

Author

Listed:
  • Jiaxin Guo

    (Xi’an Jiaotong University
    City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon)

  • Mengnan Jiang

    (Dalian University of Technology)

  • Xiaolu Li

    (City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon)

  • Muhammad Usman Farid

    (City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon
    The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon)

  • Bhaskar Jyoti Deka

    (Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee
    Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee)

  • Baoping Zhang

    (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon)

  • Jiawei Sun

    (City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon)

  • Zuankai Wang

    (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon)

  • Chunhai Yi

    (Xi’an Jiaotong University)

  • Pak Wai Wong

    (City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon)

  • Sanghyun Jeong

    (Pusan National University)

  • Boram Gu

    (Chonnam National University)

  • Alicia Kyoungjin An

    (City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon
    The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon)

Abstract

Omniphobic membranes, due to their exceptional properties, have drawn significant attention for overcoming the bottleneck in membrane distillation (MD) technology. This study demonstrates an innovative method for fabricating an omniphobic membrane that is simple and facile compared to other methods such as wet/dry etching and photolithography. The surface morphology of springtails was imitated using electrospraying technique to coat a polyvinylidene fluoride substrate with concave-shaped polystyrene beads that were successfully developed by controlling the electrical traction (voltage) and air resistance (humidity). Then, the lipid coating of springtail surfaces was mimicked by dip-coating the membrane in a low-toxicity short-chain perfluoropolyether lubricant. The concave structure’s tiny air pockets increased membrane hydrophobicity significantly, indicated by the fact that the first round of water bouncing took only 16.3 ms. Finally, in MD treatment of seawater containing 1.0 mM sodium dodecyl sulfate, the optimized omniphobic membrane maintained a stable 99.9% salt rejection rate.

Suggested Citation

  • Jiaxin Guo & Mengnan Jiang & Xiaolu Li & Muhammad Usman Farid & Bhaskar Jyoti Deka & Baoping Zhang & Jiawei Sun & Zuankai Wang & Chunhai Yi & Pak Wai Wong & Sanghyun Jeong & Boram Gu & Alicia Kyoungji, 2024. "Springtail-inspired omniphobic slippery membrane with nano-concave re-entrant structures for membrane distillation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-52108-9
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-52108-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-52108-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-024-52108-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-52108-9. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.