Development of High-Throughput Electrospun Chitosan/Peo-Cnc Composite Membranes with Enhanced Antibacterial and Oil-Water Separation Properties

Abstract

Untreated waste liquid mixtures can foster significant bacterial populations, posing challenges to purification processes due to the large volume and limited filtration efficiency. If a filter membrane can fulfill both filtration and sterilization functions, it will greatly enhance efficiency. In this study, the hydrophilic properties of chitosan, the antibacterial properties of N-halogen amines, and the mechanical enhancement of cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) were synergistically integrated via electrospinning technology to fabricate super-hydrophilic, oil-repellent porous membrane materials with inherent antibacterial properties. In order to enhance the bactericidal effect of chitosan in water treatment, we chlorinated the -NH2 groups of chitosan to convert them into N-halamine groups. This is demonstrated by the complete inactivation of 10 μL of E. coli 108 and S. aureus within 1 minute after contact with CS/PEO-CNC-2-Cl membrane, and the complete inactivation of 106S. aureus bacterial solution at a filtration rate of no more than 1273 L⋅m-2⋅h-1. The superhydrophilic antibacterial membrane prepared in this study shows broad application prospects in the field of water resource treatment for oil and microbial pollution.

Keywords: cellulose nanocrystals, superhydrophilic antibacterial membrane, oil-repellent porous membrane material, chitosan