Biogenic nanosilver incorporated reverse osmosis membrane for antibacterial and antifungal activities against selected pathogenic strains: An enhanced eco-friendly water disinfection approach

Abstract

Reverse osmosis (RO) membranes have been used extensively in water desalination plants, waste water treatment in industries, agricultural farms and drinking water production applications. The objective of this work is to impart antibacterial and antifungal activities to commercially available RO membrane used in water purification systems by incorporating biogenic silver nanoparticles(AgNPs) synthesized using Rosa indica wichuriana hybrid leaf extract. The morphology and surface topography of uncoated and AgNPs-coated RO membrane were studied using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). Elemental composition of the AgNPs-coated RO membrane was analyzed by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDAX). The functional groups were identified by Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). Hydrophilicity of the uncoated and AgNPs-coated RO membrane was analyzed using water contact angle measurements. The thermal properties were studied by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The AgNPs incorporated RO membrane exhibited good antibacterial and antifungal activities against pathogenic bacterial strains such as E. coli, S. aureus, M. luteus, K. pneumoniae, and P. aeruginosa and fungal strains such as Candida tropicalis, C. krusei, C. glabrata, and C. albicans.

Keywords:

• Biogenic
• silver nanoparticles
• RO membrane
• antibacterial
• antifungal

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Dr. K. Gopalakrishnan Member, Board of Governors, National Design and Research Forum, Bangalore for his guidance. We also thank NCNSNT, University of Madras, Guindy campus for providing characterization studies. We would also like to thank Prof. R. Rengasamy, Director, CAS in Botany, University of Madras, Guindy campus for providing lab facilities.