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In this paper, a stainless steel mesh coated with titanium dioxide (TiO 2 @SSM) membrane was developed for the separation of stable oil-water emulsions and the degradation of soluble pollutants. The TiO 2 @SSM membrane showed excellent underwater anti-oil adhesion performance and efficient emulsion separation under gravity (flux of 207.7 L m−2 h−1 and efficiency of 99.58 % for toluene-water emulsion). The emulsion could also be pre-broken by microbubble flotation to enhance the separation performance of the TiO 2 @SSM membrane (microbubble flotation followed by separation has a flux of 369.3 L m−2 h−1, and efficiency of 99.71 %). And the synergistic operation of separation and microbubble flotation can increase the flux to 451.6 L m−2 h−1. The membrane showed outstanding stability and could be recycled for more than 20 times without significant deterioration, and demonstrated chemical stability for corrosion resistance test (pH 0–14). In addition, the membrane, which is easily modified with silver nanoparticles, achieves improved photocatalytic degradation properties (efficiency from 58.8 % to 88.7 %) and microbubble flotation effect (flux of 613.4 L m−2 h−1). This work provides a rational strategy for the preparation and optimization of inorganic functional membranes for effective emulsion separation and dye degradation, and demonstrates promising applications of the separation and purification in oil-containing sewage and wastewater remediation. [Display omitted] • TiO 2 nanobelts coated SSM membrane exhibits excellent crude-oil antifouling and photocatalytic ability. • TiO 2 @SSM membrane can separate various kinds of surfactant-stabilized oil-in-water emulsions. • TiO 2 @SSM membrane exhibits sustained microbubble flotation and emulsion separation capabilities. • Synergistic effect of microbubble flotation and demulsification improved the separation performance. • Decoration of silver nanoparticle enhance the photocatalytic and microbubble flotation ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frequent offshore oil leakage accidents and large quantities of oily-wastewater produced in industry and daily life bring huge challenges to global water purification. The adaptability and stability of organogels as adsorbent materials have shown wide application prospects in the field of oil-water separation. Herein, the organogels displayed stable hydrophobic/lipophilic properties with high absorption ability (1200 wt./wt%), efficient sorption of multiple emulsions (>99.0%), and good reusability. More importantly, the organogels were successfully assembled with 2D/3D substrates to achieve excellent sorption capacity (102.5 g/g) and recycling performance (50 cycles). The gel-carbon black assembled on MS (GCB-MS) sorbent with excellent photothermal conversion performance, and can rapidly heat the surface to 70.4 °C under 1.0 sunlight radiation (1.0 kW/m2) and achieved an ultra-high sorption capacity of about 103 g/g for viscous crude oil. Meanwhile, the GCB-MS was combined with a pump to build continuous oil spill cleaning equipment to achieve a super-fast cleanup rate of 6.83 g/min. The developed hydrophobic organogels had been expanded unprecedentedly to realize the comprehensive treatment of oily-wastewater in complex environments, including layered oils, emulsions, and viscous crude oil spill, which provided an effective path for the comprehensive treatment of oily wastewater in complex environments. [Display omitted] • Hydrophobic organogels exhibit excellent emulsion adsorption efficiency (>99.0%) and recyclability. • Hydrophobic gel coated porous substrates to achieve highly hydrophobic and oleophilic ability. • Gel-coating strategies demonstrate broad applicability for 2D or 3D substrates. • Assembling materials realizes on-demand remediation of various oily wastewater. • Composite sponge shows continuous, high-speed treatment of viscous crude oil spill. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]