{"title":"Enhanced antibacterial activity, dye rejection and anti-fouling performance of ZrO2-SiO2 composite ceramic membranes embedded by silver nanoparticles","authors":"Yutian Mei, Jing Yang, Ruifeng Zhang, Hongji Li, Yingming Guo","doi":"10.1007/s10971-025-06697-6","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The ceramic membranes hold significant promise for dye wastewater treatment, owing to their exceptional water permeability, mechanical strength, and chemical stability. However, membrane fouling causes undesired filtration performance. In this study, the Ag/ZrO<sub>2</sub>-SiO<sub>2</sub> composite ceramic membranes with varying molar ratios of Ag/Si (<i>n</i><sub><i>Ag</i></sub>) were fabricated by incorporating AgNO<sub>3</sub> into the ZrO<sub>2</sub>-SiO<sub>2</sub> matrix using the sol−gel method. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements revealed that the doped Ag element exists in the form of metallic Ag<sup>0</sup> nanoparticles (AgNPs). The introduction of AgNPs was found to optimize the surface microstructure and control the charge properties of the membrane, thus enhancing the dye rejection performance of Ag/ZrO<sub>2</sub>-SiO<sub>2</sub> membranes under various filtration conditions. The effect of <i>n</i><sub><i>Ag</i></sub> was studied to establish an optimal balance between antibacterial activity and dye rejection performance. The optimized Ag<sub>0.1</sub>/ZrO<sub>2</sub>-SiO<sub>2</sub> (<i>n</i><sub><i>Ag</i></sub> = 0.1) materials displayed superior antibacterial activity evidenced by antibacterial efficiency of 98.86% against <i>Escherichia coli</i> and 97.42% against <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i>. Furthermore, the Ag<sub>0.1</sub>/ZrO<sub>2</sub>-SiO<sub>2</sub> membrane exhibited a remarkable rejection of 96.74% and a flux of 331.36 L m<sup>−2</sup> h<sup>−1</sup> for 50 mg L<sup>−1</sup> reactive black KN−B solution at 2 bar and 25 °C. Compared to the ZrO<sub>2</sub>-SiO<sub>2</sub> membrane, the Ag<sub>0.1</sub>/ZrO<sub>2</sub>-SiO<sub>2</sub> membrane indicated enhanced rejections of the five dyes with various molecular weights along with excellent anti-fouling performance of reactive black KN-B with a flux recovery of 91.18% after three anti-fouling filtration cycles. This study highlights the potential of the Ag/ZrO<sub>2</sub>-SiO<sub>2</sub> membrane for effective dye wastewater treatment.</p><h3>Graphical Abstract</h3><div><figure><div><div><picture><source><img></source></picture></div></div></figure></div></div>","PeriodicalId":664,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Sol-Gel Science and Technology","volume":"114 2","pages":"413 - 429"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2000,"publicationDate":"2025-02-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Sol-Gel Science and Technology","FirstCategoryId":"88","ListUrlMain":"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10971-025-06697-6","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"MATERIALS SCIENCE, CERAMICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The ceramic membranes hold significant promise for dye wastewater treatment, owing to their exceptional water permeability, mechanical strength, and chemical stability. However, membrane fouling causes undesired filtration performance. In this study, the Ag/ZrO2-SiO2 composite ceramic membranes with varying molar ratios of Ag/Si (nAg) were fabricated by incorporating AgNO3 into the ZrO2-SiO2 matrix using the sol−gel method. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements revealed that the doped Ag element exists in the form of metallic Ag0 nanoparticles (AgNPs). The introduction of AgNPs was found to optimize the surface microstructure and control the charge properties of the membrane, thus enhancing the dye rejection performance of Ag/ZrO2-SiO2 membranes under various filtration conditions. The effect of nAg was studied to establish an optimal balance between antibacterial activity and dye rejection performance. The optimized Ag0.1/ZrO2-SiO2 (nAg = 0.1) materials displayed superior antibacterial activity evidenced by antibacterial efficiency of 98.86% against Escherichia coli and 97.42% against Staphylococcus aureus. Furthermore, the Ag0.1/ZrO2-SiO2 membrane exhibited a remarkable rejection of 96.74% and a flux of 331.36 L m−2 h−1 for 50 mg L−1 reactive black KN−B solution at 2 bar and 25 °C. Compared to the ZrO2-SiO2 membrane, the Ag0.1/ZrO2-SiO2 membrane indicated enhanced rejections of the five dyes with various molecular weights along with excellent anti-fouling performance of reactive black KN-B with a flux recovery of 91.18% after three anti-fouling filtration cycles. This study highlights the potential of the Ag/ZrO2-SiO2 membrane for effective dye wastewater treatment.
期刊介绍：
The primary objective of the Journal of Sol-Gel Science and Technology (JSST), the official journal of the International Sol-Gel Society, is to provide an international forum for the dissemination of scientific, technological, and general knowledge about materials processed by chemical nanotechnologies known as the "sol-gel" process. The materials of interest include gels, gel-derived glasses, ceramics in form of nano- and micro-powders, bulk, fibres, thin films and coatings as well as more recent materials such as hybrid organic-inorganic materials and composites. Such materials exhibit a wide range of optical, electronic, magnetic, chemical, environmental, and biomedical properties and functionalities. Methods for producing sol-gel-derived materials and the industrial uses of these materials are also of great interest.
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