Preparation of anti-adhesion and bacterial destructive polymeric ultrafiltration membranes using modified mesoporous carbon

Abstract Satisfactory ultra-high biofilm formation resistant polymeric interfaces have yet to be realized. A new application of mesoporous carbon (MPC) via the loading of silver nanoparticles into its matrix was successfully introduced for the fabrication of biofouling resistant polyethersulfone ultrafiltration membranes. MPC not only solved the silver nanoparticle detachment issue, as the most significant scaling up challenge of new materials modified by silver, but it also led to an anti-adhesion interfacial layer for microorganisms. The effect of the incorporation of MPC on biofouling mitigation and the performance of the composite membranes was examined through bacterial adhesion resistance. The composite membrane containing the optimized 0.20 wt% MPC doped with an Ag ratio of 1:99 (w/w) easily dispatched microorganisms. Bacterial attachment on the membrane surface was reduced dramatically. Furthermore, the remaining attached bacterial cells were dealt with via the bactericidal properties of the silver nanoparticles, up to 93%. Rendering of the flow cytometry results showed that MPC amplified the effect of the negligible amount of Ag (0.002 wt% of the membrane) and induced apparent bacterial damage of Bacillus subtilis (92.94%) and Escherichia coli (93.21%). The polymeric mixed matrix membrane entirely mitigated biofouling over 99% by the combination of the bactericidal effect of silver and the anti-adhesion properties of MPC.