Design of intrinsically antibacterial thin film composite membrane based on natural material for efficient molecular sieving

Thin film composite (TFC) membranes with advanced antibacterial and separation performance are essential for practical application. Adding additional antibacterial agents is always needed to improve the antibacterial ability of TFC membrane, and it may decline the separation performance of this membrane. Herein, naringin (NG), as a green and renewable flavonoid molecule, possesses bacteriostatic and abundant reactive hydroxyl groups. Thus, a novel TFC [NG/trimesoyl chloride (TMC)] membrane with intrinsically antibacterial ability was constructed using NG as the aqueous phase molecule via facile interfacial polymerization with TMC. The NG/TMC membrane demonstrated low roughness and high negative charge surface, and the retention rates to Evan’s blue, Congo red, Sunset yellow, and methyl orange were all above 99.0%. Meanwhile, the NG/TMC membrane exhibited an outstanding antibacterial ability, the antibacterial rate to E. coli and S. aureus can reach 99.36% and 98.39%, respectively. This kind of novel NG/TMC membrane with inherent antibacterial ability has significant advantages in practical applications.