Hydrophobic modified PET ion track-etched membrane for oil/water separation

Due to the increase in oil spills and the high organic contamination of the marine environment, it is necessary to develop an oil/water separation technology with low cost and high efficiency. Membrane separation technology has been proven to be an important technology used in the oil/water separation area. Herein, PET ion track-etched membranes with channel sizes of 310 nm, 650 nm, 1050 nm, and 1950 nm were hydrophobically modified by chemical grafting using propyltrichlorosilane and o-xylene as modifier and solvent, respectively. The modified PET ion track-etched membranes were found to exhibit a maximum water contact angle of 140.81° and possessed excellent hydrophobic property with modifying conditions of 80 mM modifier and 24 h modification time. It demonstrated the grafted propyl groups on the PET ion track-etched membrane played a key role in the increase of hydrophobic property. After modification, the PET ion track etched membrane had a high oil/water separation ratio of 99.87% and a flux of 12,158.24 L/m2·h with good running stability. This work provided a cost-effective and facile approach to distinctly improve the ion track-etched membrane performance on durable oil/water separation.