Filtration and Electrochemical Disinfection Performance of PAN/PANI/AgNWs-CC Composite Nanofiber Membrane.

The removal and inactivation of waterborne pathogens from drinking water are important for human health. Here, a polyacrylonitrile/polyaniline/silver nanowires-carbon fiber cloth (PAN/PANI/AgNWs-CC) composite nanofiber membrane was fabricated using a simple and rapid coelectrospinning process, and an electrical device was applied with the PAN/PANI/AgNWs-CC filter for water electrochemical disinfection. The effects of voltage, flow rate, and microbial concentration on the filtration and electrochemical disinfection performance of the nanocomposite membrane were investigated. The characterization results show that PAN/PANI/AgNWs with uniform diameters and without beads were successfully fabricated on CC. AgNWs were uniformly distributed in the PAN/PANI/AgNWs. The PAN/PANI/AgNWs-CC filter was an effective sieve for completely removing both Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus in the absence of applied voltage, and the sieved bacteria were completely inactivated by the released silver within 8 h. Over 99.999% inactivation of the sieved bacteria was achieved within a few seconds by concurrent filtration and electrochemical disinfection under a voltage of 3 V. This high performance is enabled by means of an electrical mechanism, and an extremely high electric field induces sharp AgNWs tips to generate electroporated pores in the bacteria. The electrochemical PAN/PANI/AgNWs-CC membrane is an excellent material with potential application value in point-of-use drinking water treatment.