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Surface science

Separation by reconfiguration

Nature volume 489, pages 41–42 (2012)Cite this article

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Membranes have been made that are hygro-responsive — their wetting properties change when immersed in water. This striking property allows the membrane to separate emulsions into their oil and water constituents.

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Figure 1: Flow scheme for separating oil–water emulsions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Robert W. Field is in the Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PJ, UK.,

    Robert W. Field

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  1. Robert W. Field
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Correspondence to Robert W. Field.

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Field, R. Separation by reconfiguration. Nature 489, 41–42 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/489041a

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