Antibacterial Membranes for Water Remediation with Controlled Leaching of Biocidal Silver Aided by Prior Grafting of Poly(ethylene imine) on to Ozone‐Treated Polyethylene

Abstract

We describe a novel strategy to control the release of silver from polyethylene‐based water purification membranes by suitably modifying the membrane surface by a biocidal macromolecule (poly(ethylene imine), PEI) before depositing silver on the surface. The PE membranes were first treated with ozone and then PEI was covalently grafted. The distribution of silver was mapped by EDAX, and the antibacterial activity assessed by standard plate count method and by estimating the reactive oxygen species. The new membrane allows controlled release of silver ions which otherwise would contaminate the water source if used in excess. Leaching in the final permeate is lower than 0.03 ppm opening the route to antibacterial polyolefin‐based membranes for water decontamination.

A Comprehensive Review on Polymeric Nano-Composite Membranes for Water Treatment

“…Antai et al [173][174][175][176][177][178][179][180][181][182][183][184][185][186][187] ) within GO was done via three different methods such as Pre-incorporation, Post-incorporation and Filter-incorporation. Metal cations used for membrane preparation used were non-toxic, environment friendly and cheap [188][189][190][191][192][193][194].…”

Emerging advances of composite membranes for seawater pre-treatment: A review

“…Cross-linked polymerization of polysulfone using vinyl-triethoxysilane and acrylic acid have been investigated by researchers for water purification (Zhu et al, 2017). The layer technique was employed to remove microbial contamination from water polyacrylic acid and tobramycin (Mural et al, 2017). Polyvinylidene fluoride was blended with zwitterionic co-polymers in different ratios (J. .…”

Polymeric Coatings with Antimicrobial Activity: A Short Review

“…In a work, using a spin coating technique, multilayers of PEI and styrene maleic anhydride copolymer (SMA) were deposited onto PP-based substrates and then cured, as shown in Figure 9 Aside from incorporating metal ions or nanoparticles, there are studies where antimicrobial and antibacterial coatings were prepared only using polymeric materials. Due to its biocidal properties [44], N,N-dodecylmethyl-polyethylenimine (PEI) received special attention and was included in a series of studies. In a work conducted by Park et al, glass and polyethylene slides were dipped into PEI-based hydrophobic solutions [45].…”