Paper Title
Nanostructured Polyamic Acid Membranes for Anti-Microbially Enhanced Water Treatment Cartilages

Abstract
Water scarcity and quality challenges facing the world can be greatly alleviated by Point-of-Use filtration devices (POU). The use of filtration membranes in POU devices has been limited largely because of membrane fouling. Membrane fouling occurs when suspended solids, microbes and organic materials are deposited on the surface of filtration membranes and significantly decreases the membrane lifespan and increases operation costs. There is need therefore to develop filtration membranes that are devoid of the challenges posed by foulants and that can actively participate in the filtration process. Nanotechnology shows great potential to alleviate this challenge. Silver nanoparticles can be cheaply synthesized and have for the longest time been known as impressive anti-microbial agents. Gold has as well attracted great research interest owing to its fascinating catalytic activities demonstrated in assorted scientific research works. The objective of this work was to prepare and characterize hydrophilic Poly (Amic acid) polymer films containing Silver and Gold nanoparticles and evaluate their suitability as antimicrobial materials for water treatment. Hydrophilicity of PAA is a deterrent to foulant adhesion to the membrane’s surface while gold NPs catalyses the interactions of silver NPs with microbes for better antimicrobial properties. We will report the synthesis and fabrication of Nanostructured Polyamic memberanes and their application in water filtration. The nanostructured thin films were fabricated via thermal and wet phase inversion techniques and then tested against the microbes Escehrichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus following standard tests. Key words- Nanostructured Polyamic acid; polymer membranes; cartlilages