Sustained Release of Bromide Species for Decontamination of Water

Access to clean water is paramount for human health and safety and universal access to clean water and sanitation is  one of the United Natiions’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals. To that end, antimicrobial materials that can effectively inhibit the growth of microorganisms are of particular value to ensuring access to potable water.

There are a variety of antimicrobial compounds have been demonstrated to be effective in this manner. N-halamines, a known class of biocides, when conjugated to commodity polymers (e.g polystyrene) have shown high durability, long-term stability, and the potential to be regenerated. They are active against a wide spectrum of microorganisms including fungi and viruses, due to the oxidative properties of N-halamine moieties (N-Cl or N-Br).  

The research group has obtained a facile route to synthesize low cost polymers containing N-bromine and N-chloro moieties. They evaluated the release of active hypobromous acid (HOBr), from the polymer matrix in decontaminating microbial-spiked water. Results showed a 6 log reduction for E. coli for 500 L of passing contaminated water.

The rate of release of active oxidizing agents can be tuned with appropriate chemistry to match the application and the polymer matrix can be reloaded. These polymeric materials can be in the form of granules to be incorporated into sponges, resins, gels, and membranes or liquid for spray coating of surfaces--to be applied for a variety of treatment form-factors.