Fabrication of superhydrophobic polyethersulfone-ZnO rods composite membrane

The development of superhydrophobic membrane has gained more attention. The current methods for superhydrophobic surface mostly involve fluorosilanes as surface modification agent which is expensive and harmful to the environment. We herein report, simple and cost effective, fabrication of novel superhydrophobic polyethersulfone-composite membranes. The superhydrophobicity of the membrane surface was achieved by growing ZnO rods ex-situ followed by modification with stearic acid. SEM results showed the presence of ZnO rods with the length ranging from 1 µm to 11 µm on the membrane surface while AFM results revealed high surface roughness. The as-prepared membrane exhibited high water repellent with contact angle of ~163° and excellent superoleophilicity. The PES-ZnO rod-SA modified membrane could be an excellent candidate for oil-water separation.