Superwetting Ag/α-Fe2O3 Anchored Mesh with Enhanced Photocatalytic and Antibacterial Activities for Efficient Water Purification

Superwetting materials have drawn unprecedented attention in the treatment of oily wastewater due to their preferable anti-fouling property and selective oil/water separation. However, it is still a challenge to fabricate multifunctional and environmentally friendly materials, which can be stably applied to purify the actual complicated wastewater. Here, a Ag/α-Fe2O3 heterostructure anchored copper mesh was intentionally synthesized using a facile two-step hydrothermal method. The resultant mesh with superhydrophilicity and underwater superoleophobicity was capable of separating various oil/water mixtures with superior separation efficiency and high permeation flux driven by gravity. Benefiting from the joint effects of the smaller band gap of Ag/α-Fe2O3 heterojunction, inherent antibacterial capacity of α-Fe2O3 and Ag nanoparticles, favorable conductive substrate, as well as the hierarchical structure with superwettability, such mesh presented remarkably enhanced degradation capability toward organic dyes under visible light irradiation and antibacterial activity against both Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) compared with the pure α-Fe2O3 coated mesh. Impressively, the mesh exhibited bifunctional water purification performance, in which organic dyes were eliminated simultaneously from water during oil/water separation in one filtration process. More importantly, this mesh behaved exceptional chemical resistance, mechanical stability and long-term reusability. Therefore, this material with multifunctional integration may hold promising potential for steady water purification in practice.