Effect of different incorporation route on the properties of polyethersulfone-silver membrane

• Main Authors: Basri, Hatijah, Ismail, Ahmad Fauzi, Aziz, Madzlan, Rusop, Mohamad, Soga, Tetsuo
• Format: Book Section
• Published: American Institute of Physics. 2009
• Subjects: TP Chemical technology
• Online Access: http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/13538/; http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3160277

Silver-loading asymmetric polyethersulfone (PES) asymmetric membrane was prepared via the simple phase inversion technique. The homoge neous solution was prepared by dissolving AgNO3 and PES in N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) or N, N-dimethylformamide (DMF). The morphology of the resultant membrane was examined using a scanning electron microscope and the silver content in the membrane was measured using an Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS). Result shows that resultant membranes made of NMP solvent exhibit a finger-like structure while membranes prepared with DMF exhibit a mixture of finger-like and spongy structure with voids. The antibacterial activity of resultant membrane with the variation of silver content was measured using inhibition zone method. The results indicated that the PES-silver membranes made up with NMP solvent were antibacterial to both Grampositive bacteria and Gram-negative bacteria. Resultant membranes with DMF exhibit the highest pure water permeation (PWP) without any antibacterial activities.