Synthesis and characterization of novel antibacterial silver nanocomposite nanofiltration and forward osmosis membranes based on layer-by-layer assembly

• Silver nanocomposite membranes were synthesized using flexible LbL assembly method
• Membrane synthesis routines affected Ag incorporation and membrane performances
• The membranes were applicable for NF and FO processes with superior performances
• The silver nanocomposite membranes exhibit excellent antibacterial properties

Using layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly method, we fabricated novel silver nanocomposite LbL-Ag nanofiltration (NF) and forward osmosis (FO) membranes. The incorporation of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in the membranes did not adversely affect the membrane separation performance in NF and FO processes at low AgNPs incorporation levels (0.22–1.19 wt.% as silver). The FO performance of the xLbL-Ag membranes was better than or comparable to most NF-like FO membranes reported in the literature. In addition, the silver nanocomposite membranes exhibited excellent antibacterial properties against both Gram-positive Bacillus subtilis and Gram-negative Escherichia coli. Our results showed that the performances of the silver nanocomposite membranes are highly dependent on silver incorporation in the membranes, which could be controlled by using different membrane synthesis routines and doping of AgNPs. To the best knowledge of the authors, this is the first study on fabrication and characterization of novel antibacterial silver nanocomposite NF and FO membranes through LbL assembly approach.

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