A Self-supporting, Surface Carbonized Filter Paper Membrane for Efficient Water-in-Oil Emulsion Separation

Due to the important role of oil source in our life, the separation of water-in-oil emulsion is urgent and necessary. Membrane seperation technology has been an efficient and widely used method in separating oil-water separation. Herein, we report a versatile approach to fabricate surface carbonized membranes with self-standing property from biomass-derived precursor by synergistic charring of phytic acid, arginine and filter paper. The obtained membrane exhibited superhydrophobicity in oil, excellent fouling resistance, and self-supporting ability. The membrane can be cycle-used at least 12 times with high permeation flux (up to 1380 L·m −2 ·h −1 ) and separation efficiency (up to 99.4%).