Conducting nanosponge electroporation for affordable and high-efficiency disinfection of bacteria and viruses in water.

High-efficiency, affordable, and low energy water disinfection methods are in great need to prevent diarrheal illness, which is one of the top five leading causes of death over the world. Traditional water disinfection methods have drawbacks including carcinogenic disinfection byproducts formation, energy and time intensiveness, and pathogen recovery. Here, we report an innovative method that achieves high-efficiency water disinfection by introducing nanomaterial-assisted electroporation implemented by a conducting nanosponge filtration device. The use of one-dimensional (1D) nanomaterials allows electroporation to occur at only several volts, which is 2 to 3 orders of magnitude lower than that in traditional electroporation applications. The disinfection mechanism of electroporation prevents harmful byproduct formation and ensures a fast treatment speed of 15,000 L/(h·m(2)), which is equal to a contact time of 1 s. The conducting nanosponge made from low-cost polyurethane sponge coated with carbon nanotubes and silver nanowires ensures the device's affordability. This method achieves more than 6 log (99.9999%) removal of four model bacteria, including Escherichia coli, Salmonella enterica Typhimirium, Enterococcus faecalis, and Bacillus subtilis, and more than 2 log (99%) removal of one model virus, bacteriophage MS2, with a low energy consumption of only 100 J/L.

[1]  Hans-Joachim Mosler,et al.  Solar water disinfection (SODIS): a review from bench-top to roof-top. , 2012, Journal of hazardous materials.

[2]  M. Elimelech,et al.  Membrane-based processes for sustainable power generation using water , 2012, Nature.

[3]  Yi Cui,et al.  Antimicrobial Nanomaterials for Water Disinfection , 2012 .

[4]  Yi Cui,et al.  Carbon nanotube-coated macroporous sponge for microbial fuel cell electrodes , 2012 .

[5]  Menachem Elimelech,et al.  Electrochemical multiwalled carbon nanotube filter for viral and bacterial removal and inactivation. , 2011, Environmental science & technology.

[6]  Ravi S Kane,et al.  Antifouling Coatings: Recent Developments in the Design of Surfaces That Prevent Fouling by Proteins, Bacteria, and Marine Organisms , 2011, Advanced materials.

[7]  Seoktae Kang,et al.  SWNT-MWNT hybrid filter attains high viral removal and bacterial inactivation. , 2010, Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids.

[8]  Navid B. Saleh,et al.  Multiwalled carbon nanotube filter: improving viral removal at low pressure. , 2010, Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids.

[9]  Yi Cui,et al.  High speed water sterilization using one-dimensional nanostructures. , 2010, Nano letters.

[10]  R. Black,et al.  Progress and barriers for the control of diarrhoeal disease , 2010, The Lancet.

[11]  Yi Cui,et al.  Highly conductive paper for energy-storage devices , 2009, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[12]  S. Krasner.  The formation and control of emerging disinfection by-products of health concern , 2009, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences.

[13]  T. Kohn,et al.  Quantitative PCR for Determining the Infectivity of Bacteriophage MS2 upon Inactivation by Heat, UV-B Radiation, and Singlet Oxygen: Advantages and Limitations of an Enzymatic Treatment To Reduce False-Positive Results , 2009, Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

[14]  J. Georgiadis,et al.  Science and technology for water purification in the coming decades , 2008, Nature.

[15]  A Joss,et al.  Are we about to upgrade wastewater treatment for removing organic micropollutants? , 2008, Water science and technology : a journal of the International Association on Water Pollution Research.

[16]  Menachem Elimelech,et al.  Single-walled carbon nanotubes exhibit strong antimicrobial activity. , 2007, Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids.

[17]  Dietrich Knorr,et al.  High intensity pulsed electric fields applied for food preservation , 2007 .

[18]  A. T. Esser,et al.  Membrane electroporation: The absolute rate equation and nanosecond time scale pore creation. , 2006, Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics.

[19]  S. Richardson,et al.  Occurrence of a new generation of disinfection byproducts. , 2006, Environmental science & technology.

[20]  Kwangsok Kim,et al.  High flux ultrafiltration membranes based on electrospun nanofibrous PAN scaffolds and chitosan coating , 2006 .

[21]  Luke P. Lee,et al.  A single cell electroporation chip. , 2005, Lab on a chip.

[22]  I. Sondi,et al.  Silver nanoparticles as antimicrobial agent: a case study on E. coli as a model for Gram-negative bacteria. , 2004, Journal of colloid and interface science.

[23]  I. Sanderson,et al.  Diarrhoea in children: an interface between developing and developed countries , 2004, The Lancet.

[24]  K. Schoenbach,et al.  Nanosecond, high‐intensity pulsed electric fields induce apoptosis in human cells , 2003, FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.

[25]  J. Gehl,et al.  Electroporation: theory and methods, perspectives for drug delivery, gene therapy and research. , 2003, Acta physiologica Scandinavica.

[26]  Younan Xia,et al.  Large‐Scale Synthesis of Uniform Silver Nanowires Through a Soft, Self‐Seeding, Polyol Process , 2002 .

[27]  Volker Heinz,et al.  Preservation of liquid foods by high intensity pulsed electric fields-basic concepts for process design , 2001 .

[28]  Hongde Zhou,et al.  Advanced technologies in water and wastewater treatment , 2001 .

[29]  W. Mark Saltzman,et al.  Synthetic DNA delivery systems , 2000, Nature Biotechnology.

[30]  M. Bureau,et al.  High-efficiency gene transfer into skeletal muscle mediated by electric pulses. , 1999, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[31]  Patrick D. Pedrow,et al.  Inactivating microorganisms using a pulsed electric field continuous treatment system , 1998 .

[32]  M. Gilmore,et al.  Electroporation and efficient transformation of Enterococcus faecalis grown in high concentrations of glycine. , 1995, Methods in molecular biology.

[33]  E. Tannich,et al.  Transfection and transient expression of chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene in the protozoan parasite Entamoeba histolytica. , 1994, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[34]  T. Tsong,et al.  Electroporation of cell membranes. , 1991, Biophysical journal.

[35]  Roy L. Wolfe,et al.  Ultraviolet disinfection of potable water. , 1990 .

[36]  W. J. Dower,et al.  High efficiency transformation of E. coli by high voltage electroporation , 1988, Nucleic Acids Res..

[37]  G. Schwarz,et al.  Electric field effects on the virus M13, detected by electro-optical measurements. , 1988, Biochemical and biophysical research communications.

[38]  H. Nikaido,et al.  The Outer Membrane of Gram-negative Bacteria , 1980 .