A Novel N-Halamine Biocidal Nanofibrous Membrane for Chlorine Rechargeable Rapid Water Disinfection Applications

Disinfecting pathogenic contaminated water rapidly and effectively on sites is one of the critical challenges at point-of-use (POU) situations. Currently available technologies are still suffering from irreversible depletion of disinfectants, generation of toxic by-products, and potential biofouling problems. Herein, we developed a chlorine rechargeable biocidal nanofibrous membrane, poly(acrylonitrile-co-5-methyl-5-(4′-vinylphenyl)imidazolidine-2,4-dione) (P(AN-VAPH)), via a combination of a free radical copolymerization reaction and electrospun technology. The copolymer exhibits good electrospinnability and desirable mechanical properties. Also, the 5-methyl-5-(4′-vinylphenyl)imidazolidine-2,4-dione (VAPH) moieties containing unique hydantoin structures are able to be chlorinated and converted to halamine structures, enabling the P(AN-VAPH) nanofibrous membrane with rapid and durable biocidal activity. The chlorinated P(AN-VAPH) nanofibrous membranes showed intriguing features of unique 3D morphological structures with large specific surface area, good mechanical performance, rechargeable chlorination capacity (>5000 ppm), long-term durability, and desirable biocidal activity against both bacteria and viruses (>99.9999% within 2 min of contact). With these attributes, the chlorinated P(AN-VAPH) membranes demonstrated promising disinfecting efficiency against concentrated bacteria-contaminated water during direct filtration applications with superior killing capacity and high flowing flux (5000 L m–2 h–1).