Here, a method that can simultaneously
separate oil/water mixtures and remove water-soluble contaminants
has been developed. Various substrates with different pore size were
coated by polydopamine and polyethylenepolyamine codeposition films.
The as-prepared materials were superhydrophilic and under-water superoleophobic.
The materials can separate a range of different oil/water mixtures
(including immiscible oil/water mixtures and surfactant-stabilized
emulsions) in a single unit operation, with >99.6% separation efficiency
and high fluxes. Copper ion and methyl blue can be effectively absorbed
from water when it permeates through the materials. This method can
be applied on organic and inorganic substrates and used in preparing
large-scale product. Therefore, the simple and facile method has excellent
potential in practical application and creates a new field for oil/water
separation materials with multifunctional applications