LASER ABLATION FOR COPPER OXIDE NANOWIRES GROWTH AND ITS APPLICATION FOR OIL-WATER SEPARATION

Abstract

Nanostructured materials have been a key component in technologies pertaining to water treatment to minimize the damage to our ecosystem from industrial contamination. However, the continuous erosion of surfaces by its surrounding environments is an inherent challenge in ensuring lasting adhesion of nanomaterials onto surfaces for industrial deployment. Thermally-induced oxidative growth of copper oxide (CuO) nanowires (NWs) on Cu foils is one readily scalable technique of mass-producing nanostructures. An enhancement to the sturdiness and adhesion of the CuO NWs array on a Cu foil was achieved with laser-fabricated microholes through pulsed 1064 nm laser texturing. Microhole-lined hierarchical functional surfaces are created in a controllable and catalyst-free process. The resulting superhydrophilic nano-textured surface demonstrated efficient oil-water filtration ability which would be useful in the separation of emulsions from oil spill accidents and wastewater pollution. This work has potential for large scale, high-efficiency applications in underwater oil manipulation and wastewater treatment.