Incorporation of Silver-Embedded Carbon Nanotubes
Coated with Tannic Acid into Polyamide Reverse Osmosis Membranes toward
High Permeability, Antifouling, and Antibacterial Properties
posted on 2021-08-30, 07:13authored byAfang Zhao, Na Zhang, Qiang Li, Lianwen Zhou, Huining Deng, Zhenghua Li, Yi Wang, Enguang Lv, Zhen Li, Mei Qiao, Jihua Wang
In
this work, tannic acid (TA)-functionalized carbon nanotubes
(CNT@TA) were synthesized by hydrogen bond and π–π
stacking interactions. CNT@TA embedded with silver nanoparticles (Ag-CNT@TA)
was obtained by in situ reducing silver ammonia ions
in the pore channels of CNT@TA. CNT@TA and Ag-CNT@TA were added into
the polyamide (PA) layer by interfacial polymerization to fabricate
high-performance nanocomposite reverse osmosis membranes. The results
show that the functionalized CNTs can be uniformly distributed in
the PA matrix with random orientations. A loose PA separation layer
was obtained by introducing CNT@TA. Correspondingly, abundant new
water channels were formed. Compared with the pure PA membrane, the
water permeability (4.81 L m–2 h–1 bar–1) of the nanocomposite membrane is enhanced
by 49.8% without any loss in NaCl rejection (99.3%). The membrane
exhibits satisfactory chemical- and bio-fouling resistances to bovine
serum albumin and Escherichia coli as
model foulants. The high bactericidal rate should be ascribed to the
formation of the TA coating and confined Ag nanoparticles in CNT channels.
The confined structure effectively avoids the leaching out of the
Ag nanoparticles and keeps the persistence of the antibacterial property.
The excellent compatibility between the CNTs and the polyamide matrix
endows the membrane with long-term performance stability.