Imparting Antimicrobial and Antifouling Properties to Anion Exchange Membrane through the Modification with Gentamicin‐Based Polymer

Abstract A series of gentamicin‐modified anion exchange membranes (AEMs) immobilized by mussel‐inspired dopamine coating is prepared in this work. The purpose is to improve antibacterial activity and fouling resistance of the commercial AEMs (AEM Type I, Fujifilm Co.). As a result of the applied modification, the hydrophilicity of membrane surface improved significantly. Thus, the as‐prepared modified AEMs exhibit the good antifouling property, in electrodialysis (ED) experiments by using the sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate and albumin from bovine serum as model foulants. Furthermore, taking into account the results of the antibacterial test, the resulting modified AEMs exhibit improved antibacterial property for Escherichia coli ( E. coli ) and Staphylococcus aureus ( S. aureus ). After a brief contact with bacteria, the antibacterial rates of modified AEMs coating with gentamicin‐based polymer are 80.11% for E. coli and 90.66% for S. aureus , which are much higher than pristine AEM (6.28% and 9.07%), respectively. In addition, the modified membrane has good operational stability during ED process and recovery ability after contamination, and also maintains satisfactory electrochemical properties. This investigation highlights a design of simple strategy for the preparation of antimicrobial and antifouling AEM, which can be used for ED.