Sustainable Superhydrophobic PVDF-grafted Cellulose Membrane for Oil/Water Separation

Herein we report a facile preparation of superhydrophobic poly(vinylidene fluoride)-grafted cellulose membranes (PVDF-g-CM) for oil/water separation. To provide the durability of membranes, PVDF was covalently bonded to the cellulose membrane via the surface-initiated reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer/macromolecular design via the interchange of xanthates (RAFT/MADIX) polymerization. The resulting PVDF-g-CMs were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectrometer, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and water contact angle measurements. The oil/water separation performance was examined using various oils, including n-hexane, chloroform, toluene, diethyl ether, dichloromethane, and silicone oil, and the membranes exhibited excellent performance with separation efficiency higher than 97% for all oil/water mixtures. More importantly, due to the covalently bonding of PVDF on the surface, the PVDF-g-CMs showed superior stability under various environments, including water, oil, and acidic solutions, enabling them for practical application of oil/water separation.