Waterborne disease-causing bacteria continue to be a major problem in the developing world where more than one billion individuals lack access to safe drinking water. An electrically conductive composite membrane (ECCM) composed of silver nanoparticles, polyaniline and cotton fibers was prepared using a facile one-step synthesis approach for high speed electrical sterilization of water. Silver nanoparticles were formed in situ during the aniline polymerization in the presence of silver nitrate as oxidizing agent. The presence of cotton fiber in the polymerization medium helped to speed up the reaction by acting as adsorbing site for the aniline monomer. Silver flakes in the range of 50-500 nm were formed during the polymerization. The electrical conductivity of the ECCMs increased with time of polymerization as a result of increasing both the number and the dispersion uniformity of silver nanoparticles. The efficiency of water sterilization utilizing ECCM will be reported on Escherichia coli bacteria.

High-speed water sterilization using conducting polymer-metal nanoparticles composite

243rd National Meeting (2012)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.