Nanocomposite Membranes Based On Chitosan Embedded With Antimicrobial Nanoparticles for Water Purification Applications

Abstract

Extended Abstract Due to the water problem, our attention is focused on developing innovative membranes for water purification. Among the biodegradable biopolymers, the ones based on polysaccharides like chitosan have presented great interest. After cellulose, chitosan is produced by chitin’s deacetylation, the most bountiful natural polysaccharide. The The FTIR analysis confirmed the characteristic peaks related to chitosan and nanoparticles and the interactions developed between the components. The SEM/ EDX analyses confirm the presence of nanoparticles in the membranes’ structure and their relatively homogeneous distribution conferring the premises of using them as reproducible membranes for water purification applications. The TG/ DSC analysis on the subjected samples illustrated the thermal behaviour and the composition very close to the theoretical ones, again confirming a good homogeneity of the samples. Following the antimicrobial assessments, the composite membranes have inhibited the adherence of the tested microbial strains. Therefore, E. coli ATCC 25922 and Citrobacter sp. were the most sensitive to the as-developed membranes. Also, the composite membranes had moderate antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive strains resistant to antibiotics ( E. faecalis VRE 2566 and S. aureus MRSA 5578), which indicates that the as-presented composite membranes showed great perspective in developing membranes for water purification applications.