Issue 23, 2021

Water/gas separation based on the selective bubble-passage effect of underwater superaerophobic and superaerophilic meshes processed by a femtosecond laser

Abstract

To solve the problems caused by tiny bubbles in liquids and the difficulties involved in collecting useful gas underwater, this paper proposes a method to separate bubbles from water by integrating underwater superaerophobic and superaerophilic porous membranes, including bubble removal and collection methods. Inspired by fish scales and lotus leaves, underwater superaerophobic microstructures and underwater superaerophilic microstructures are prepared on a stainless steel (SS) mesh by femtosecond laser processing, respectively. The as-prepared underwater superaerophobic mesh has an anti-bubble ability, while the underwater superaerophilic mesh has a bubble-absorption ability in water. Based on the different dynamic behavior of bubbles on these two kinds of superwetting meshes, efficient water/bubble separation is achieved by using laser-induced superwetting meshes. Tiny bubbles can be completely removed from the water flow in a pipe or easily collected. Such water/gas separation methods based on underwater superaerophobic and superaerophilic porous membranes provide an effective way to prevent the damage caused by bubbles and to collect the available gas in liquids, which has great potential applications in energy utilization, environmental protection, medical and health care, microfluidic chips, chemical manufacturing, agricultural breeding, and so on.

Graphical abstract: Water/gas separation based on the selective bubble-passage effect of underwater superaerophobic and superaerophilic meshes processed by a femtosecond laser

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
24 Feb 2021
Accepted
17 May 2021
First published
18 May 2021

Nanoscale, 2021,13, 10414-10424

Water/gas separation based on the selective bubble-passage effect of underwater superaerophobic and superaerophilic meshes processed by a femtosecond laser

J. Yong, J. Zhuang, X. Bai, J. Huo, Q. Yang, X. Hou and F. Chen, Nanoscale, 2021, 13, 10414 DOI: 10.1039/D1NR01225H

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements