Polyvinylidene fluoride-cellulose nanocrystals hybrid nanofiber membrane for energy harvesting and oil-water separation applications

•PVDF and PVDF@CNCs membranes nanofiber were developed.•PVDF shows higher piezoelectric effect than PVDF@CNCs membrane.•PVDF@CNCs membrane shows the highest water flux and oil rejection in oil/water separation. In this communication, we report a smart membrane for both energy harvesting and oil/water separation application. The membrane was manufactured from polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) nanofiber blended with cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) as a sustainable material. A promising result in energy harvesting from the cyclic load effect and in oil/water separation was achieved. The developed membranes were characterized for their morphology, functional group, and surface properties using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and water contact angle (WCA), respectivley. The membrane shows piezoelectric response result about 3.5 V and 10 nA corresponding to PVDF membrane comparing to PVDF@CNCs membrane. However, in oil/water separation application, PVDF@CNCs shows higher water flux (85646.43 ml/m2.h) comparing to pristine PVDF membrane (73589.29 ml/m2.h). These resulted membranes are promising in oily wastewater separation and in the application of powering sensors that capable of measuring water quality after separation and treatment process.