Abstract:Under the action of surfactant, oil-water mixture is easily converted into emulsion, thus the emulsion forms a stable oil-water mixing system, which brings difficulties to separation. Combined with the surface roughness and surface chemical properties, the prepared superwetting materials provide a good platform for the separation of oil and water. This paper first introduced the basic theory of special wettability, and then summarized the research progress of emulsion separation based on superwetting materials. The utility model comprises superhydrophobic and superoleophilic materials for separating water-in-oil emulsion, the superhydrophilic/underwater superoleophobic materials for dealing with oil-in-water emulsion and intelligent superwetting materials for separating both water-in-oil and oil-in-water emulsion. Finally, some problems and future directions in the field were summarized and prospected.