A novel kind of composite membranes for oil/water separation were prepared via the combination of polypropylene non-woven meshes and superhydrophilic CaCO3-based mineral layer inspired by biomineralization.Poly(acrylic acid) brushes

which are negatively charged and can induce nucleation of CaCO3

were first tethered on the fiber surface of polypropylene non-woven meshes by UV-induced graft polymerization.The mineral layer was then fabricated on the mesh surface by an alternative soaking process.Results from measurements of static and dynamic oil contact angles reveal that the rigid mineral layer traps abundant water and forms a stable oil-repellent interface

which endows the membranes with underwater superoleophobicity (CA150) and low oil-adhesion (SA5) for various kinds of oils.Moreover

the mineral-coated meshes exhibit low transmembrane pressure for water (gravity-driven filtration) and relatively high critical oil breakthrough pressure (10 kPa) due to the unique multiple interconnected pores and overall high porosity of the non-woven structure.Model oil-in-water emulsion filtration experiments further show that the mineralized meshes have high rejection rate towards oil droplets whose particle sizes are larger than 2 m

thus making these composite non-woven meshes promising in the treatment of some industrial oil/water mixtures.