Bio-inspired anti-oil-fouling chitosan-coated mesh for oil/water separation suitable for broad pH range and hyper-saline environments.

Here, we report a bio-inspired chitosan (CS)-based mesh with high separation efficiency, oil-fouling repellency, and stability in a complex liquid environment. The surface of the CS coating maintains underwater superoleophobicity and low oil adhesion (<1 μN) in pure water and hyper-saline solutions, and it can keep stable special wettability in broad pH range environments after the CS mesh is fully cross-linked with glutaraldehyde and then reduced by sodium borohydride to form a stable carbon-nitrogen single bond. The separation process is solely gravity-driven, and the mesh can separate a range of different oil/water mixtures with >99% separation efficiency in hyper-saline and broad pH range conditions. We envision that such a separation method will be useful in oil spill cleanup and industrial oily wastewater treatment in extreme environments.