Antibacterial studies of Ag@HPEI@GO nanocomposites and their effects on fouling and dye rejection in PES UF membranes
Christopher Nonso Chukwuati, Richard M. Moutloali
Abstract
. The aforementioned microorganisms are among the microorganism that causes biofilm formation on surfaces. The membrane performance was assessed by measuring pure water flux, solute rejections and fouling propensity with three different organic dye molecules and bovine serum albumin (BSA). All composite membranes (GO/PES, HPEI@GO/PES, and Ag@HPEI@GO/PES) exhibited increased hydrophilicity and higher pure water flux compared to the baseline PES membranes with concomitant increase in fouling resistance, The observed flux recovery ratios (FRR) were 80% (GO/PES), 70% (HPEI@GO/PES) and 69% (Ag@HPEI@GO/PES) respectively compared to the 45% FRR observed for the baseline PES membrane after BSA fouling. Congo red (CR) used as an indicator for molecular cut-off of UF membranes was rejected above 95% by all nanocomposite membranes. Furthermore, the nanocomposite membranes-maintained rejection for the positively charged methylene blue (MB) of above 90% whilst rejection observed for amaranth (AR) dye decreased from 80 to 58% with increasing filler content in the PES matrix. The results demonstrate the positive influence of GO, HPEI@GO and Ag/HPEI@GO nanofillers on flux, fouling and solute rejection performance of resultant PES nanocomposite membranes.