Superhydrophobic and Sustainable Nanostructured Powdered Iron for the Efficient Separation of Oil-in-Water Emulsions and the Capture of Microplastics.

The pollution of oceans and seas by oils and microplastics is a significant global issue affecting the economy and environment. Therefore, it is necessary to search for different technologies that can remove these pollutants in a sustainable way. Herein, superhydrophobic powdered iron was used to efficiently separate stabilized oil-in-water emulsions and, remarkably, capture microplastic fibers. High-energy ball milling of iron particles was applied to decrease particle size, increase the specific surface area, and produce a nanostructured material. This was combined with the liquid phase deposition of lauric acid to modify the surface free energy. The nanostructured powder showed superhydrophobicity (WCA = 154°) and superoleophilicity (OCA = 0°), which were fundamental in separating stabilized oil-in-water emulsions of hexane with an efficiency close to 100%. Because of the superhydrophobic/superoleophilic properties of the powdered iron and its intrinsic properties of being able to freely move and adapt to the different morphologies of microplastics under continuous stirring, this material can capture microplastic fibers. Thus, we present a novel dual application of a superhydrophobic material, which includes the capture of microplastics. This has not been reported previously and provides a new scope for future environmental sustainability.

Calculation of gyrotropy coefficients in media with low-pitch helical structures.

Chiral smectic liquid crystals are known for their huge optical activity due to the precession of the anisotropic dielectric tensor around the helicoidal axis. For an oblique direction of the propagating wave, the helix acts as a grating which splits an incident beam in different directions as long as the pitch is not too small with respect to the light wavelength. When the pitch of the helix is smaller than the wavelength, the effect of the helix is a renormalization of the gyrotropic coefficients (g_{⊥} and g_{∥}) of the resulting uniaxial medium. We report here on a method to compute these coefficients in that limit. Resolution of the Maxwell equations, using a perturbative approach, gives expressions for g_{⊥} and g_{∥} as a power development of the ratio (p/λ). The various terms of these developments coincide with the approximate expressions of these coefficients known in the literature.