Antibacterial PVA membranes containing TiO2/N-halamine nanoparticles

Abstract

Inorganic–organic composites have received considerable attention due to their combined properties. In this study, a N-halamine precursor poly[5,5-dimethyl-3-(3′-triethoxysilylpropyl)-hydantoin] (PSPH) was synthesized and used for the production of inorganic–organic hybrid particles after reacting with nano-TiO2 by a sol–gel process. The hybrid particles were characterized by FT-IR, XRD, and TGA-DTG. After chlorinated in the dilute sodium hypochlorite solution, antibacterial Cl-PSPH-TiO2 nanoparticles (NPS) could be obtained and used for production of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) composite membranes. The synthesized PSPH-TiO2/PVA composite membranes were characterized by SEM, FT-IR, XRD, and TGA-DTG. Meanwhile, antibacterial property, UV light stability, mechanical properties, and storage stability of the composite membranes were tested. The antibacterial composite membranes with Cl-PSPH-TiO2 could inactivate 99.97% of Staphylococcus aureus (3.03 logs) and 100% of Escherichia coli O157:H7 (6.12 logs) within 30 min. The antibacterial composite membranes also showed good UV light stability, regeneration ability, and excellent storage stability.