title: Synthesis and characterization of novel antibacterial silver nanocomposite nanofiltration and forward osmosis membranes based on layer-by-layer assembly.
abstract: Using layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly method, we fabricated novel silver nanocomposite LbL-Ag nanofiltration (NF) and forward osmosis (FO) membranes. The incorporation of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in the membranes did not adversely affect the membrane separation performance in NF and FO processes at low AgNPs incorporation levels (0.22-1.19 wt.% as silver). The FO performance of the xLbL-Ag membranes was better than or comparable to most NF-like FO membranes reported in the literature. In addition, the silver nanocomposite membranes exhibited excellent antibacterial properties against both Gram-positive Bacillus subtilis and Gram-negative Escherichia coli. Our results showed that the performances of the silver nanocomposite membranes are highly dependent on silver incorporation in the membranes, which could be controlled by using different membrane synthesis routines and doping of AgNPs. To the best knowledge of the authors, this is the first study on fabrication and characterization of novel antibacterial silver nanocomposite NF and FO membranes through LbL assembly approach.
authors.affiliation: School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Saren
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Qi
authors.forename: Ye
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Chuyang Y
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Tang
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D004777:Environment; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development; D005374:Filtration; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D053761:Nanocomposites / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D009995:Osmosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D012834:Silver / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D012834:Silver