Fabrication of regenerated cellulose membranes with high tensile strength and antibacterial property via surface amination

There is a growing interest in preparing membrane materials particularly with antibacterial surface and high mechanical strength from natural resources. In this work, to fabricate cellulose membrane with high tensile strength and antibacterial property, surface amination of regenerated cellulose (RC) membranes were studied. Four aminosilanes at different concentrations and the effects of alkoxyl quantity, alkoxyl chain length, and aminoalkyl chain length of aminosilanes on membrane performance were explored. The results indicated that all membranes were successfully grafted by aminosilanes with different grafting yield. The grafted RC membranes had high mechanical strength of 65.2–93.5 MPa with high hydrophobicity and thermal stability. Among aminosilanes-varying treatments, RC membranes grafted by 12% of N-[3-(trimethoxysilyl) propyl] ethylenediamine (TMSPED) which had three methoxy groups, the highest amount of amino groups, and the longest chain of aminoalkyl were demonstrated to be the most effective against Gram-positive bacteria. The bacteria killing ratio increased with improving amino content and reached almost 100%. The prepared colorless RC membranes with high tensile strength, high thermal stability, and enhanced antibacterial properties may provide more opportunities for further advancement and applications in active packaging.