Green Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles as an Effective Antibiofouling Material for Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF) Ultrafiltration Membrane.

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were successfully synthesized using the aqueous extract of the Lam () wild plant. The results showed that the conversion of Ag to Ag nanoparticles ratio reached 96.5% as determined by Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES), with a negative zeta potential (ζ) of -21.3 ± 7.68 mV of AgNPs expected to improve the stability of synthesized AgNPs. AgNP antibacterial activity has been examined against () and () bacteria. The minimum inhibition concentration (MIC) was 4.9 µL/mL for both and bacteria, while the minimum bactericidal concentrations (MBC) were 19.9 µL/mL and 4.9 µL/mL for and , respectively. The synthesized AgNPs were incorporated in ultrafiltration polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF) membranes and showed remarkable antibiofouling behavior against both bacterial strains. The membranes were characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The contact angle and porosity of the membrane were also determined. The efficiency of the membranes regarding rejection rate was assessed using bovine serum albumin (BSA). It was found in the flux experiments that membranes BSA rejection was 99.4% and 98.7% with and without AgNPs, respectively.