Sustainable Antimicrobial Silver@MXene Nanofiber Membranes for Enhanced Photothermal Membrane Distillation Performance
Khalid Alhamdan, M. Obaid, Jehad K. El‐Demellawi, Najat A. Amin, Ananda Rao Hari, Yongjiu Lei, Pascal E. Saikaly, Husam N. Alshareef, Noreddine Ghaffour
Abstract
Solar-driven desalination has emerged as a sustainable and efficient solution for addressing global water scarcity, especially beneficial in remote, off-grid, and disaster-affected regions. Among emerging technologies, photothermal membrane distillation (PMD) stands out due to its effective solar-energy conversion, scalability, and simplicity. Here, we report a hybrid PMD membrane fabricated by electrospinning MXene (Ti 3 C 2 T x ) nanosheets integrated with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) onto a poly(vinylidene fluoride- co -hexafluoropropylene) (PH) substrate. The hybrid membrane synergistically combines MXene’s exceptional photothermal conversion capabilities and the broad-spectrum antibacterial properties of AgNPs, thereby achieving enhanced permeate flux, excellent salt rejection (>99.99%), and superior resistance to biofouling. Under simulated solar irradiation (1 sun), the fabricated PMD membranes demonstrated permeate fluxes of 0.94 LMH and 3.08 LMH at ambient temperature (∼20 °C) and 30 °C, respectively, achieving a remarkable photothermal efficiency of 63.5% at ambient temperature, with a 35 g/L NaCl feed solution. When challenged with real Red Sea water (39 g/L salinity), the permeate flux showed only a marginal reduction (8.5%), underscoring excellent antifouling performance under realistic conditions. Beyond its desalination performance, the membrane demonstrated excellent antibacterial properties with a 99.8% killing effect. These findings underscore the potential of the Ag@MXene/PHNF membrane as a robust, scalable, and sustainable solution for decentralized water production, capable of producing approximately 24 L of potable water per square meter per day.