Silver Oxide Nanoparticles-Modified Poly Vinyl Chloride Membranes to Enhance the Antibacterial Properties

Develop nanocomposite membranes with antibacterial properties and other hydrophilic properties for usage in wastewater treatment. Co-precipitation was used to create nanoparticles of silver oxide (Ag2O), which were then incorporated into polyvinyl chloride (PVC) flat sheet membranes made using the phase inversion procedure. Crystal structure and the production of Ag2O nanoparticles may be confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) investigations, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Attenuated Total Reflection- Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), Mechanical properties, and contact angle were Sused to characterize both the unmodified membrane and the membrane that had been modified with Ag2O in order to examine the distribution of the nanoparticles of Ag2O within the PVC polymeric solution and the surface properties, thus highlighting the effect of the polymer/filler interfacial interactions. Improving the mechanical and wettability characteristics of the pristine PVC membrane with the insertion of Ag2O nanoparticles is a major contribution of our study. The mechanical strength of the created modified PVC membrane with Ag2O was high, with a young's modulus of 5.5 MPa, while the pristine PVC membrane has a modulus of 3.5 MPa; this is an important characteristic for the application of this type of membrane in a Holding Company of water and wastewater purification. At a permeate water productivity of 3.5 LMH, 92 percent of a target NOC concentration of 50 mg/L of humic acid was removed. Positive antibacterial effects of the modified membranes with Ag2O were observed.