TY - JOUR
T1 - Characterization of PVDF/graphene nanocomposite membranes for water desalination with enhanced antifungal activity
AU - Gontarek-Castro, Emilia
AU - Rybarczyk, Maria Krystyna
AU - Castro-Muñoz, Roberto
AU - Morales-Jiménez, Monica
AU - Barragán-Huerta, Blanca
AU - Lieder, Marek
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors.
PY - 2021/5/1
Y1 - 2021/5/1
N2 - Seawater desalination is a worldwide concern for the sustainable production of drinking water. In this regard, membrane distillation (MD) has shown the potential for effective brine treatment. However, the lack of appropriate MD membranes limits its industrial expansion since they experience fouling and wetting issues. Therefore, hydrophobic membranes are promising candidates to successfully deal with such phenomena that are typical for commercially available membranes. Here, several graphene/polyvinylidene (PVDF_G) membranes with different graphene loading (0-10 wt%) were prepared through a phase inversion method. After full characterization of the resulting membranes, the surface revealed that the well-dispersed graphene in the polymer matrix (0.33 and 0.5 wt% graphene loading) led to excellent water repellence together with a rough structure, and a large effective surface area. Importantly, antifungal activity tests of films indicated an increase in the inhibition percentage for PVDF_G membranes against the Curvularia sp. fungal strain. However, the antifungal surface properties were found to be the synergistic result of graphene toxicity and surface topography.
AB - Seawater desalination is a worldwide concern for the sustainable production of drinking water. In this regard, membrane distillation (MD) has shown the potential for effective brine treatment. However, the lack of appropriate MD membranes limits its industrial expansion since they experience fouling and wetting issues. Therefore, hydrophobic membranes are promising candidates to successfully deal with such phenomena that are typical for commercially available membranes. Here, several graphene/polyvinylidene (PVDF_G) membranes with different graphene loading (0-10 wt%) were prepared through a phase inversion method. After full characterization of the resulting membranes, the surface revealed that the well-dispersed graphene in the polymer matrix (0.33 and 0.5 wt% graphene loading) led to excellent water repellence together with a rough structure, and a large effective surface area. Importantly, antifungal activity tests of films indicated an increase in the inhibition percentage for PVDF_G membranes against the Curvularia sp. fungal strain. However, the antifungal surface properties were found to be the synergistic result of graphene toxicity and surface topography.
KW - Anti-fungal activity
KW - Graphene
KW - Membrane distillation
KW - Membranes
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85105553115&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/w13091279
DO - 10.3390/w13091279
M3 - Artículo
AN - SCOPUS:85105553115
SN - 2073-4441
VL - 13
JO - Water (Switzerland)
JF - Water (Switzerland)
IS - 9
M1 - 1279
ER -