Preparation and antibacterial property of PES/AgNO₃ three-bore hollow fiber ultrafiltration membranes

In this study, a three-bore polyethersulfone (PES) hollow fiber ultrafiltration (UF) membrane with antibacterial properties was prepared by phase inversion, using PES as the membrane material, N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAC) as solvent, polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and AgNO₃ as additives. The silver particles were detected by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The effect of AgNO₃ content on the antibacterial properties and separation performance was studied in detail. The membranes showed good antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli after adding AgNO₃ and the antibacterial rate of PES/AgNO₃ UF membrane with AgNO₃ content of 1 wt% could reach 99.9% after running for 48 hours. Moreover, the bovine serum albumin solution filtration results indicated that the PES/AgNO₃ membranes had a certain degree of antifouling performance. Therefore, three-bore PES/AgNO₃ membranes have a potential application to reduce both bacterial and organic fouling in water treatment.