Highly permeable, antifouling and antibacterial poly(ether imide) membranes tailored with poly(hexamethylenebiguanide) coated copper oxide nanoparticles

• Published in: Materials chemistry and physics 2020-01, Vol.240, p.122224, Article 122224
• Main Authors: Sri Abirami Saraswathi, Meenakshi Sundaram, Rana, Dipak, Divya, Kumar, Gowrishankar, Shanmugaraj, Sakthivel, Arunkumar, Alwarappan, Subbiah, Nagendran, Alagumalai
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antifouling; Antifouling coatings; Chemical precipitation; Chemical synthesis; Copper; Copper oxide nanoparticles; Copper oxides; E coli; Field emission microscopy; Humic acids; Membranes; Nanocomposites; Nanoparticles; Organic chemistry; Penetration; Poly(ether imide); Poly(hexamethylenebiguanide); Polyetherimides; Polymer nanocomposite membrane; Porosity; Serum albumin; Surface properties; Ultrafiltration; Water treatment
• ISSN: 0254-0584; 1879-3312
• DOI: 10.1016/j.matchemphys.2019.122224

Herein, copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO NPs) are synthesized via a facile wet chemical precipitation technique and coated with poly(hexamethylenebiguanide) hydrochloride (PHMB). The surface properties of the resulting PHMB coated CuO (PHMB-c-CuO) are characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectroscopy. In order to improve permeation, anti-organic fouling and antibacterial characteristics, PHMB-c-CuO NPs are incorporated into poly(ether imide) (PEI) membrane matrix via a phase inversion technique. The morphological and hydrophilicity investigations confirmed that the influence of PHMB-c-CuO NPs improves the macrovoids, porosity (15.2%) and water permeation (192.8 Lm−2h−1) of the PEI membrane. The rejection and flux recovery ratio (FRR) of the PEI/PHMB-c-CuO membranes are found to be over 97% towards foulants such as bovine serum albumin (BSA), humic acid (HA) and motor oil demonstrated its excellent separation and antifouling ability. Antibacterial activity of PEI/PHMB-c-CuO membrane is studied using Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Results showed a wider inhibition zone thereby confirming the excellent antibacterial ability of the PEI/PHMB-c-CuO membrane. Overall, the PEI/PHMB-c-CuO nanocomposite membranes provided outstanding permeation, anti-fouling, and anti-bacterial performance than pristine PEI membrane and promising for effective water treatment applications. [Display omitted] •Highly dispersible PHMB-c-CuO nanoparticles into PEI matrix are synthesized.•PEI/PHMB-c-CuO membranes displayed superior hydrophilicity, permeability and antifouling ability.•PEI/PHMB-c-CuO membranes showed better BSA/HA/Oil rejection and antibacterial ability.•PEI/PHMB-c-CuO membranes are promising for potential use in the water treatment.