Retention and transport of silver nanoparticles in a ceramic porous medium used for point-of-use water treatment.

The retention and transport of silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) through a ceramic porous medium used for point-of-use drinking water purification is investigated. Two general types of experiments were performed: (i) pulse injections of suspensions of Ag-NPs in aqueous MgSO4 solutions were applied to the ceramic medium, and effluent silver was quantified over time; (ii) Ag-NPs were applied directly to the porous medium during fabrication using a paint-on, dipping, or fire-in method, a synthetic, moderately hard water sample with monovalent and divalent inorganic ions was applied to the ceramic medium, and effluent silver was quantified over time. These latter experiments were performed to approximate real-world use of the filter medium. For experiments with Ag-NPs suspended in the inflow solution, the percentage of applied Ag-NPs retained in the ceramic porous medium ranged from about 13 to 100%. Ag-NP mobility decreased with increasing ionic strength for all cases and to a lesser extent with increasing nanoparticle diameter. Citrate-capped particles were slightly less mobile than proteinate-capped particles. For ceramic disks fabricated with Ag-NPs by the paint-on and dipping methods (where the Ag-NPs are applied to the disks after firing), significant release of nanoparticles into the filter disk effluent was observed relative to the fire-in method (where the nanoparticles are combined with the clay, water, grog, and flour before firing). These results suggest that the fire-in method may be a new and significant improvement to ceramic filter design.