EAGER: Confining biofouling using sticky stripes

超滤膜是水处理的最新技术。然而，随着时间的推移，细菌在超滤膜表面定居的过程被称为生物污染。生物污染减少了纯净水的跨膜传输，需要昂贵和耗时的方法来去除积累的细菌，最终增加了净水过程的成本和能源消耗，并缩短了膜的使用寿命。目前防止生物污染的策略包括使用防止污染的设计材料，要么使用新的聚合物，要么在现有的膜材料中加入杀菌剂。这些现有的策略导致材料昂贵、不稳定和/或与前驱体膜相比性能降低。这项研究将提供材料化学可以将纳米材料固定在多孔抗污染聚合物超滤膜上的证据。该项目探索了一种新型膜分层结构的合成，它利用亲水性聚合物将亲水性聚合物层限制在超薄的上层，而不堵塞毛孔，从而增加了纯水通过膜的通量。其次，将具有生物杀灭性能的牺牲性防污染条电子纺丝到这一层上，以将污染和抗菌性能定位到膜的特定区域。在这个为期一年的项目中，PI将展示防污纤维将附着在超薄亲水层上，以缓解人们对这一概念的高风险性质的担忧。要探索的第一种沉积纤维的方法是电纺丝，而应急计划包括添加剂制造和3D打印。

Ultrafiltration membranes are the state of the art for water treatment. With time, however, bacteria colonize on the surface of the ultrafiltration membranes in a process known as biofouling. Biofouling decreases the transport of purified water across the membrane, requires expensive and time consuming methods to remove the accumulated bacteria, and ultimately, increase the costs, energy consumption of the water purification process, and shortens the lifetime of the membrane. Current strategies to prevent biofouling include use of designer materials that prevent fouling, either via use of new polymers or incorporation of biocides into the existing membrane material. These existing strategies lead to materials that are either expensive, unstable, and/or have decreased performance relative to the precursor membrane. The research will provide evidence that materials chemistry can immobilize a nanomaterial onto a porous antifouling polymer ultrafiltration membrane. This project explores synthesis of a novel membrane hierarchical structure, which utilizes a hydrophilic polymer to increase the flux of pure water across the membrane by confining the hydrophilic polymer layer to an ultrathin upper layer, without blocking pores. Secondly, sacrificial antifouling strips with biocidal properties will be electronspun onto this layer to localize fouling and antimicrobial properties to certain regions of the membrane. In this one year project, the PI will demonstrate that the antifouling fibers will adhere to the ultrathin hydrophilic layer, to alleviate concerns of the high risk nature of the concept. The first method to be explore for deposition of the fibers is electrospinning, while contingency plans include additive manufacturing and 3D printing.