Preparation of silver nanoparticles Impregnated in polymer membranes for water treatment

Silver nanoparticles are particles of silver between 1 and 100 nanometers which have many useful properties and one of the most important uses is for its anti-bacterial property. Silver nanoparticles synthesized by chemical reduction method were studied in this FYP for their influence on the anti-bacterial activity when it is impregnated into polysulfone membrane which can be used in water treatment processes. Silver nanoparticles impregnated polysulfone (PSf-Ag) membrane was prepared by wet phase inversion method. Anti-bacterial activity of the PSf-Ag membrane was tested and quantified by plate count method and flow cytometry where results showed that antibacterial activity increased with the concentration of silver nanoparticles. Plate count method and flow cytometry were done at fixed time intervals to investigate the anti-bacterial activity against time. Promising anti-bacterial effects were observed in the first 9 hours of the 24 hour observation window. However, it was also observed that anti-bacterial activity decreases after extended period of time. A possible explanation would be the loss of silver ions over time.Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical Engineering