Apr-16-15
A stainless steel mesh able to capture oil while letting the water through could have a significant impact on environmental cleanup projects.
Created by a team from Ohio State, the steel mesh features a coating inspired in part by the lotus leaf, which has textured surface that repels water but not oil. In order to reverse the action and allow the mesh to repel oil, the team created a bumpy surface on the mesh by dusting its surface with a random scattering of silica nanoparticles. They then placed a polymer layer embedded with molecules of surfactant (which reduces surface tension between the liquids) atop the bumpy surface, resulting in a thin coating that will collect the oil as the water moves through. The gathered oil can later be poured into a different container.
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