Superoleophobic Ti3C2/halloysite nanotubes composite membranes for effective separation of oil-water emulsions

Oil-water emulsions from industrial manufacture seriously threaten ecosystems and human health, posing a huge challenge to membrane separation technology. 2D MXene materials are regarded as potential candidates for advanced separation membranes. In this work, a series of Ti 3 C 2 /HNTs composite membranes composed of MXene Ti 3 C 2 and halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) with different amounts were successfully constructed by a simple vacuum filtration method. Oil-water emulsion separation experiments show that the emulsion flux of the composite membrane M20 is 449 Lm −2 h −1 , 1.8 times larger than that of the Ti 3 C 2 membrane M0. All the separation membranes possess a high oil rejection rate, over 97 %. Furthermore, the composite membrane M20 also shows good reusability and anti-fouling properties. The mechanism study reveals the Ti 3 C 2 /HNTs composite membranes have better hydrophilia and underwater superoleophobicity due to the addition of HNTs, which reduced the adsorption of oil droplets, increased the emulsion flux and made the composite membrane anti-fouling. This paper provides a new idea for further construction of high-performance MXene-based composite membranes for oil-water emulsion separation.