ABSTRACT
A facile and efficient strategy for constructing anti-oil-fouling zwitterionic coatings on membranes is developed. The resultant membrane exhibits excellent anti-oil-fouling ability even in a dry state, and has a high efficiency for emulsion separation with a high flux of 5800 L m-2 h-1 bar-1 and an oil rejection of up to 99.6%.
ABSTRACT
Tannic acid-based functional coatings, as a green, universal and versatile tool to manipulate surface properties, have received extensive attention in the field of surface engineering of membranes for oil-in-water emulsion separation. With the rapid development of this field, more flexible and efficient modification strategies for surface engineering of membranes have been developed recently. It is therefore critical to update the broader scientific community on the important advances in this field. Here, we summarize recent progress in surface engineering of membranes with tannic acid-based coatings for oil-in-water emulsion separation. The chemical properties of tannic acid and how to design TA-based functioanl coatings via physical/chemical regulation are discussed. The roles of tannic acid in surface engineering of membranes are highlighted and classified into the following five categories: changing surface wettability, adjusting surface charge, constructing catalytic surfaces, forming hydrogel surfaces, and fabricating hybrid separation membranes/layers. Finally, the future outlook and the challenges in this field are discussed.
