Abstract
This work investigates polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane modification to enhance its hydrophilicity and antibacterial properties. PVDF membranes were coated with nanoparticles of titanium dioxide (TiO2-NP) and silver (AgNP) at different concentrations and coating times and characterized for their porosity, morphology, chemical functional groups and composition changes. The results showed the successfully modified PVDF membranes containing TiO2-NP and AgNP on their surfaces. When the coating time was increased from 8 to 24 h, the compositions of Ti and Ag of the modified membranes were increased from 1.39 ± 0.13 to 4.29 ± 0.16 and from 1.03 ± 0.07 to 3.62 ± 0.08, respectively. The water contact angle of the membranes was decreased with increasing the coating time and TiO2-NP/AgNP ratio. The surface roughness and permeate fluxes of coated membranes were increased due to increased hydrophilicity. Antimicrobial and antifouling properties were investigated by the reduction of Escherichia coli cells and the inhibition of biofilm formation on the membrane surface, respectively. Compared with that of the original PVDF membrane, the modified membranes exhibited antibacterial efficiency up to 94% against E. coli cells and inhibition up to 65% of the biofilm mass reduction. The findings showed hydrophilic improvement and an antimicrobial property for possible wastewater treatment without facing the eminent problem of biofouling.
Highlights
Nowadays, the number of industries is rapidly increasing, thereby posing the risk of serious water pollution
The results showed that the Water Contact Angle (WCA) of the original polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane
M3 due to higher TiO2 -NP and AgNP content. This could result from the longest coating time for M4, which allows more TiO2 -NP/AgNP to attach on the membrane surface as shown in scanning electron microscopy (SEM) results in the previous section (Figure 2)
Summary
The number of industries is rapidly increasing, thereby posing the risk of serious water pollution. Biofilm and its associated EPS are mainly responsible for the membrane water flux decline since their coverage on the membrane surfaces can block membrane pores and increase water transport resistance [8]. This can shorten the working life of the membrane, increase the operation cost, and restrict successful applications. To solve this problem, the membrane hydrophilicity must be increased to induce fouling resistance, thereby preventing the attachment of microbial cells along with the adsorption and deposition of hydrophobic pollutants onto the membrane surface [9]
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