The treatment of emulsion-based oily wastewater presents significant challenges due to the scarcity of effective separation materials and the risk of secondary pollution. Janus membranes, with their asymmetric wettability, have emerged as a promising solution for efficiently separating oil–water mixtures. In this study, we developed an excellent environmental friendliness Janus membrane by assembling asymmetric acylation-modified zein nanoparticles (AAZN) and adsorbing them onto one side of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) channels through evaporation-induced self-assembly. The adsorption of AAZN within the membrane pore channels reduced the thickness of the hydrophobic layer to 50–64 μm, facilitating droplet contact with the hydrophilic layer and accelerating the generation of capillary forces. As a result, the Janus membrane demonstrated an ultra-high flux of 20,524.47 Lm−2 h−1 bar−1 and outstanding separation efficiency (≥97.91 %) in treating oil-in-water emulsions. Remarkably, the membrane maintained consistent performance over 26 reuse cycles, with flux values consistently around 20,000 Lm−2 h−1 bar−1. Furthermore, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations revealed that the Janus channels exerted significant and opposing forces on water and oil molecules within the emulsion droplets, contributing to exceptional emulsion-breaking and separation capabilities. This study presents a green, straightforward, and efficient approach for the fabrication of Janus membranes, offering promising prospects for the production of environmentally friendly oil–water separation membranes.

中文翻译：

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高通量和耐用的 Janus 膜，用于通过不对称酰化玉米醇溶蛋白纳米颗粒组装分离水包油乳液


由于缺乏有效的分离材料和二次污染的风险，乳化液基含油废水的处理带来了重大挑战。Janus 膜具有不对称的润湿性，已成为有效分离油水混合物的一种有前途的解决方案。在这项研究中，我们通过组装不对称酰化修饰的玉米醇溶蛋白纳米颗粒 （AAZN） 并通过蒸发诱导的自组装将它们吸附到聚偏二氟乙烯 （PVDF） 通道的一侧，开发了一种出色的环境友好型 Janus 膜。AAZN 在膜孔通道内的吸附将疏水层的厚度减小到 50-64 μm，促进了液滴与亲水层的接触并加速了毛细管力的产生。结果，Janus 膜在处理水包油乳液时表现出 20,524.47 Lm-2 h-1 bar-1 的超高通量和出色的分离效率 （≥97.91 %）。值得注意的是，该膜在 26 次重复使用循环中保持一致的性能，通量值始终在 20,000 Lm-2 h-1 bar-1 左右。此外，分子动力学 （MD） 模拟表明，Janus 通道对乳液液滴内的水和油分子施加了显着的相反力，有助于实现卓越的乳液破解和分离能力。本研究提出了一种绿色、直接和高效的 Janus 膜制造方法，为生产环保型油水分离膜提供了广阔的前景。