Polysulfone ultrafiltration membranes impregnated with silver nanoparticles show improved biofouling resistance and virus removal

WATER RESEARCH

卷:43

Article

Zodrow, Katherine¹  Brunet, Lena¹  Mahendra, Shaily¹  Li, Dong¹  Zhang, Anna¹  Li, Qilin¹  Alvarez, Pedro J. J.¹ 

[1] Rice Univ, Dept Civil & Environm Engn, Houston, TX 77005 USA

关键词: Nanosilver;    Water filtration membranes;    Biofouling;    Virus removal;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.watres.2008.11.014

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Biofouling and virus penetration are two significant obstacles in water treatment membrane filtration. Biofouling reduces membrane permeability, increases energy costs, and decreases the lifetime of membranes. in order to effectively remove viruses, nano-filtration or reverse osmosis (both high energy filtration schemes) must be used. Thus, there is an urgent demand for low pressure membranes with anti-biofouling and antiviral properties. The antibacterial properties of silver are well known, and silver nanoparticles (nAg) are now incorporated into a wide variety of consumer products for microbial control. In this study, nAg incorporated into polysulfone ultrafiltration membranes (nAg-PSf) exhibited antimicrobial properties towards a variety of bacteria, including Escherichia coli K12 and Pseudomonas mendocina KR1, and the MS2 bacteriophage. Nanosilver incorporation also increased membrane hydrophilicity, reducing the potential for other types of membrane fouling. XPS analysis indicated a significant loss of silver from the membrane surface after a relatively short filtration period (0.4 L/cm(2)) even though ICP analysis of digested membrane material showed that 90% of the added silver remained in the membrane. This silver loss resulted in a significant loss of antibacterial and antiviral activity. Thus, successful fabrication of nAg-impregnated membranes needs to allow for the release of sufficient silver ions for microbial control while preventing a rapid depletion of silver. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

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