Enhanced the antifouling and antibacterial performance of PVC/ZnO-CMC nanoparticles ultrafiltration membrane

Inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) have been employed in modification for polyvinyl chloride (PVC) membrane intrinsic hydrophobicity. Carboxymethyl chitosan (CMC), a natural organic matter, was used to relieve the agglomeration of zinc oxide (ZnO) NPs in the membrane matrix. In this paper, ZnO-CMC NPs were successfully prepared via co-precipitation approach, blended with PVC membranes, and the effect of ZnO-CMC NPs for the membrane properties was studied. The SEM and EDX confirmed excellent dispersion of ZnO-CMC NPs on the membrane surface. The enhanced hydrophilicity, porosity and inter-connected finger-like strcture of modified membranes confirmed by water contact angle and SEM. In addition, pure water flux of PVC/ZnO-CMC composite membrane was 107.36 L m −2 h −1 (PVC/ZnO-CMC (0.25 wt%)), which was higher than that of neat PVC membrane (83.11 L m −2 h −1 ). Importantly, the modified membranes exhibits lower static BSA adsorbtion because of the improved hydrophilicity, and a higher flux recovery rate (>90%) after three sequential filtration cycles. The antibacterial behavior of PVC/ZnO-CMC membrane was tested simply using Escherichia coli , and the results indicated that all composite membranes possess excellent antibacterial properties. Our work presents PVC/ZnO-CMC NPs composite membrane a promising future in wastewater treatment and antibacterial application.