Exploring the effect of organic–inorganic additives loaded on modified polyethersulfone membranes

In this work, a novel modified polyethersulfone (PES) membrane was made by blending PES with organic biomolecules which were N¹,N⁴-bis(4-sulfamoylphenyl)terephthalamide (SF), and N¹, N⁴-bis4-(N-(5-methylisoxazol-3-yl)sulfamoyl)phenyl]terephthalamide (SZ) to afford PES-SF and PES-SZ membranes. Antifouling properties of these modified membranes were examined against different types of bacteria and a fungus as well as by measuring the contact angle. The results showed the addition of these organic additives to PES membranes did not improve the hydrophilicity and exhibit any microbial activity. Thus, Cu₂O nanoparticles were used with different concentrations to afford PES-SF-Cu₂O and PES-SZ-Cu₂O nanocomposites membranes. The results showed when Cu₂O nanoparticles (3 wt %) was added to PES-SF₃ and PES-SZ₃ membranes, both membranes showed the best hydrophilicity with 67° for PES-SF₃-Cu₂O membrane and 77° for PES-SZ₃-Cu₂O membranes. PES-SF₃-Cu₂O and PES-SZ₃-Cu₂O membranes showed antibacterial against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureus. To evaluate the anticoagulant activity of the PES-SF and PES-SZ membranes, the clotting times using the activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) and prothrombin time (PT) were measured. The results showed PT level was prolonged for the pure PES membrane with 13 s and for PES-SF₁ membrane with 12.4 s while the PES-SZ₁ membrane showed no difference from the control (pure plasma). Contrary to the PT factor, APTT level of the PES-SF membrane showed the longest time with 43 s. The results of APPT and PT seemed somewhat satisfactory for the PES-SF while the PES-SZ membrane did not show any difference from the control sample. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 136, 47686.