Antimicrobial Chitosan-Zinc Oxide Hybrid Nanoparticles Incorporated Polymer Membranes for Water Disinfection

Abstract

The present work is focused on the synthesis of Chitosan-Zinc oxide hybrid nanoparticles (CS-ZnO HNPS) and incorporation of these nanoparticles in the polyethersulphone (PES) membranes for enhanced antibiofouling properties. CS-ZnO HNPS were characterized through SEM, XRD and FTIR. The membranes were then fabricated by dispersing, three different concentration of CS-ZnO HNPS (58-60nm) in the casting solution of PES through phase inversion method. The influence of nano-sized CS-ZnO particles on the morphology and the properties of PES was characterized through SEM, XRF, contact angle, water retention, surface roughness and permeability flux. The membrane with the maximum concentration of NPS resulted larger mean pore sizes than the pure PES membrane and the contact angle reduced from 60.73ᵒ to 40.33ᵒ.The resultant membranes showed incredible water permeability, hydrophilicity and prevention against microbial fouling. The membranes were observed to have significant antibacterial and antifungal properties against S.Aureus, B.Cereus, E.coli, S.typhi, A.fumigatus and F.solani.