Investigation of antifouling and antibacterial properties of curcumin-enriched surfactant nanoparticles modified polysulfone nanocomposite membranes

Membrane fouling is the major hindrance to the extensive application of membrane-based treatment techniques. In this study, we synthesized the antibacterial membranes with varying wt.% (1-5) of curcumin-enriched sodium dodecyl benzenesulfonate (Cur-NaDBS) nanoparticles in the polysulfone polymer matrix. The membranes were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), ther-mogravimetric analysis, Fourier transformation spectroscopy (FT-IR) and the nanoparticles were char-acterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). 1H and 13C NMR confirmed the successful synthesis of Cur-NaDBS nanoparticles. The M-CN5 (PSF+5 wt% Cur-NaDBS) exhibited higher average surface roughness (133 nm) than the pristine polysulfone (M-P0) membrane (average surface roughness: 65 nm). The pure water permeation for the mixed matrix membrane M-CN5 was 3.2 times that of the pristine M-P0 membrane. The Cur-NaDBS incorporated membranes exhibited better bovine serum albumin (BSA) rejection performance than the pristine M-P0 (pristine PSF) membrane. The Cur-NaDBS nanoparticles incorporated membranes showed a high flux recovery rate (> 90%). Moreover, incorporating Cur-NaDBS nanoparticles into the polysulfone matrix imparted antibacterial properties to the membranes. This was confirmed by disk diffusion test and molecular docking studies (binding energy =-7.06 kJ mol-1) with the gram-positive S. aureus bacteria. This study found that Cur-NaDBS nanoparticles incorporated membranes mitigate the fouling problems for ultrafiltration applications. (c) 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

In this study, antibacterial membranes with curcumin-enriched Cur-NaDBS nanoparticles were synthesized and characterized. The membranes showed improved resistance to fouling and exhibited antibacterial properties.