Nanostructured Conductive Composite Filter Electrodes for Water Sterilization by Application of Low Electrical Current

There is a crucial need for the development of inexpensive technologies for water sterilization enabling access to safe drinking water for more than one billion people in the developing countries. Water sterilization can be attained by chemical, electrochemical or electrical means. Electrical methods for water sterilization are considered environmental friendly because they use ‘‘electrons’’ as the nontoxic reaction mediator. This paper reports the preparation of electrically conductive composite membranes (ECCMs) for water sterilization. The composite membranes were prepared by two stages dip coating of the porous cotton fibers into conductive graphite and various conductive silver nanostructures. The prepared ECCMs were utilized as filter electrodes for fabrication of pathogen inactivation device, with an applied voltage of -20 and +20 V, respectively. At flow rates of 10 mL/ min, the fabricated device inactivated > 99.9999% E. coli bacteria in the infected water samples having nominal bacterial density in the range of 10-10 CFU/mL