# Nanocellulose Membranes for Plasmon-Enhanced Removal of Organic Pollutants from Water

## TL;DR

This paper introduces a new water purification membrane using cellulose nanofibers and silver nanoparticles that can efficiently remove organic pollutants when exposed to blue light.

## Contribution

The novel contribution is the integration of plasmonic silver nanoparticles into cellulose nanofiber membranes for enhanced pollutant removal via visible light activation.

## Key findings

- The membranes show excellent adsorption capacity and mechanical durability without silver nanoparticle leaching.
- Exposure to blue light significantly accelerates the removal of organic pollutants through plasmonic degradation.
- Performance tests with methylene blue and vancomycin confirm the effectiveness of the CNF_AgNP composite under visible light.

## Abstract

We present multifunctional
cellulose nanofiber (CNF) membranes
containing in situ-synthesized plasmonic silver nanoparticles (AgNPs)
for the efficient removal of organic pollutants from water. These
membranes combine the adsorptivity and mechanical strength of CNF
with the plasmonic properties of AgNPs, which, when activated by blue
light, enable the photocatalytic degradation of organic contaminants
such as dyes and pharmaceuticals and thereby enhance their removal
from water. The membranes demonstrate excellent adsorption capacity,
flexibility, mechanical durability, and reusability and show no AgNP
leaching in water, making them ideal for sustainable water treatment
applications. Performance tests show significantly higher pollutant
removal rates in membranes containing AgNPs, and exposure to blue
light further accelerates the removal process, ascribed to the plasmonic
decomposition of pollutants at the surface of the CNF_AgNP composite.
To validate these findings, we tested methylene blue and the antibiotic
vancomycin. The results confirm the plasmonic degradation of the molecules
by irradiation of the CNF_AgNP membranes with visible light. These
membranes offer a promising solution for water purification due to
enhanced adsorption combined with photodecomposition by visible light,
advancing sustainable technologies for tackling water contamination.