Facile preparation of chitosan coated silver nanoparticles embedded cotton fabric for point-of-use water disinfection.

• The fabrication of a cotton-based water disinfection filter was proposed. • Ag NPs-C/CS has excellent bactericidal efficiency against B. subtilis and E. coil. • The filtration rate and the silver release can be manipulated with chitosan coating. • Ag NPs-C/CS was successfully applied to natural water disinfection. In this study, chitosan (CS) coated Ag nanoparticles (Ag NPs) embedded cotton fabric (Ag NPs-C/CS) was prepared by in-situ thermal reduction of AgNO 3 followed by a subsequent coating of porous CS membrane. The introduction of the CS membrane could prevent the excessive release of Ag into the treated water and allow more substantial Ag NPs loading, thereby significantly improving the bactericidal efficiency and stability. With 1.5 wt% of CS, the bactericidal efficiency against Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli of the functional material achieved 3.0 and 4.0 log reduction, respectively. Additionally, Ag NPs-C/CS was successfully applied for natural water disinfection, with silver content under 50 µg/L in the processed water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]