Durable superhydrophobic-superoleophilic copper mesh fabricated by pulsed laser ablation for oil/water separation

Superhydrophobic surface has been widely studied on its theories and applications. Oil/water separation as one of its various applications shows great potential and attracts attention of researchers. In this paper, a round copper piece was used to fabricate an oil/water separation mesh by pulsed laser ablation and one-step simple chemical treatment. Based on the mechanism of hydrophobicity/lipophilicity, the fabricated copper mesh shows tunable excellent oil/water separation ability. Field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) was taken to study the surface morphology. Energy dispersive X-ray detector (EDX) shows the changes in surface chemical elements. Furthermore, by immersing in aqueous solutions with different PH values and the mechanical abrasion testing, the mesh still exhibits good superhydrophobicity, showing excellent stability in both harsh chemical environments and physical conditions. The fabrication approach can be flexibly scaled up to large-scale production, which has great potential applications in solving the problems of oil pollution.

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