Biodegradable and hydrophobic nanofibrous membranes produced by solution blow spinning for efficient oil/water separation

초록

The development of nanofibrous oil-water separation materials is explosively progressing, but the remarkably low productivity is the main factor hindering their practical application. In this study, biodegradable poly-butylene succinate (PBS) nanofibers with excellent productivity (27.0 g/h per nozzle) were successfully fabri-cated using the solution blow spinning (SBS) process, breaking away from the conventional electrospinning method. The prepared PBS nanofibers exhibited extremely thin fiber diameters (130 nm) with high porosity (97.4%). Without any chemical modification or inorganic/organic hybrid materialization, the PBS nanofibrous membrane showed excellent oil adsorption capacity (minimum: 18.7 g/g and maximum: 38.5 g/g) and sepa-ration efficiency; water and oil mixtures (99.4-99.98%) and emulsions (98.1-99.5%) compared to conventional organic polymer-based nanofibers. In terms of disposal after use, this biodegradable nanofibrous membrane was able to return to nature through hydrolysis and biodegradation processes.

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