Fabrication of Copper Nano- Filter Membrane and its use in the Purification of Contaminated Water

ABSTRACT

Copper nanoparticles were synthesised by the green method using African spinach and peppermint leaves extract as both reducing and capping agents. The synthesized nanoparticles were then characterized by Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy, (EDS), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Fourier Transform Infra-Red Spectroscopy (FTIR). EDS confirmed the formation of copper nanoparticles and SEM images showed spherical nanoparticles with an average size of 3.44 μm. FTIR showed that the functional groups on the leaves’ extracts were capped on the surface of the nanoparticles. The nanoparticles were then casted into a nano- filter membrane using cellulose actetate and used to filter contaminated water gotten from a canal at the University of Lagos. The filtration efficiency of this nano-filter was compared with the ordinary cellulose acetate membrane and the result showed that the copper nano-filter membrane gave an odorless, cleaner water than that of ordinary cellulose acetate membrane. The microbial analysis also revealed that about 96.5 % of the bacteria was removed using the copper nano-filter membrane.

Keywords: Green synthesis, copper nanoparticles, waste water purification, nano-filter membrane, antimicrobial

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