A facile method to prepare dual-functional membrane for efficient oil removal and in situ reversible mercury ions adsorption from wastewater

Highlights: • Dual-functional membrane for efficient oil removal and in situ reversible mercury ions adsorption was first prepared. • The as-prepared membrane exhibited high oil/water separation efficiency, outstanding mercury adsorption ability, and good stability. • The dual-functional membrane can be regenerated in nitric acid solution and maintain good adsorption performance. In this work, a novel thiol covered polyamide (nylon 66) microfiltration membrane was fabricated by combining mussel-inspired chemistry and coupling reaction, which owns excellent dual-function that can simultaneously remove oil from water efficiently and adsorb the mercury ions contained in the wastewater reversibly. Such membrane exhibited high oil/water separation efficiency, outstanding mercury adsorption ability, and good stability. Moreover, it can be regenerated in nitric acid solution, and maintain its good adsorption performance. The as-prepared membrane showed great potentials for water purification to reduce the heavy metal ion pollution and complicated industrial oily wastewater and living wastewater.