Department of Materials Science & Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
Carbohydr Polym. 2013 Jan 30;92(1):254-9. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2012.08.114. Epub 2012 Sep 7.
Nanofibrous membranes have drawn considerable interest for filtration applications due to their ability to withstand high fluid flux while removing micro- and nano-sized particulates from solution. The desire to introduce an antibacterial function into water filter applications presents a challenge to widespread application of fibrous membranes because the addition of chemicals or biocides may produce harmful byproducts downstream. Here, we report the development of chitosan-polycaprolactone (PCL) nanofibrous membranes to utilize the natural antibacterial property of chitosan for antibacterial water filtration. Chitosan-PCL fibers with diameters of 200-400 nm and chitosan contents of 25, 50 and 75 wt% were prepared by electrospinning. In a series of bacterial challenge tests, chitosan-PCL fibrous membranes significantly reduced Staphylococcus aureus adhesion compared to PCL fibrous membranes. In water permeability and particulate size removal tests, fibrous membranes with 25% chitosan supported the greatest water flux (∼7000 L/h/m(2)) with 100% removal of 300-nm particulates, while maintaining the membrane integrity. This study demonstrates the potential of chitosan-PCL nanofibrous membranes as pre-filters for water filtration systems that demonstrate combinatorial filtration and intrinsic antibacterial advantages.
纳米纤维膜因其能够承受高流速的同时从溶液中去除微米和纳米级颗粒而在过滤应用中引起了相当大的兴趣。在水过滤应用中引入抗菌功能的愿望对纤维膜的广泛应用提出了挑战，因为添加化学物质或杀生剂可能会在下游产生有害的副产品。在这里，我们报告了壳聚糖-聚己内酯（PCL）纳米纤维膜的开发，以利用壳聚糖的天然抗菌性能进行抗菌水过滤。通过静电纺丝制备了直径为 200-400nm 且壳聚糖含量为 25、50 和 75wt%的壳聚糖-PCL 纤维。在一系列细菌挑战测试中，与 PCL 纤维膜相比，壳聚糖-PCL 纤维膜显著降低了金黄色葡萄球菌的粘附。在水渗透性和颗粒尺寸去除测试中，壳聚糖含量为 25%的纤维膜在保持膜完整性的同时，支持最大水通量（约 7000L/h/m2），可去除 300nm 的颗粒。本研究表明，壳聚糖-PCL 纳米纤维膜作为水过滤系统的预滤器具有组合过滤和内在抗菌优势的潜力。
