These days our one of the major challenges is the treatment of polluted wastewater produced by the growing population and industrial activities. The conventional wastewater treatment methods are costly and need to be more advanced. For this reason, membrane technology has been used as an effective wastewater treatment method for many decades due to its high removal power, selectivity, and permeability properties. Biofouling causes a serious concern related to membrane permeability, shortens membrane life, and selectivity. Polymeric membranes are widely used in wastewater treatment due to their good pore-forming ability, higher flexibility, and relatively low costs but are limited to their hydrophobicity property and more susceptible to fouling. Metal oxides nanomaterials are widely used in the formation of polymer nanocomposite membranes because of their hydrophilicity, larger surface area, pore channels, and high toxicity towards pathogenic micro-organisms. In this review, we have discussed the factors affecting membrane biofouling and their conventional and current treatment methods with their limitations. We have also referred to the use of metal oxide nanomaterials, as an antibacterial agent, for the fabrication of polymer nanocomposite membranes and discuss their antibacterial activity with antibiofouling behavior.

如今，我们面临的主要挑战之一是处理由不断增长的人口和工业活动产生的污染废水。传统的废水处理方法成本高，需要更先进。由于这个原因，膜技术由于其高去除能力、选择性和渗透性特性，几十年来一直被用作一种有效的废水处理方法。生物污染引起与膜渗透性、缩短膜寿命和选择性相关的严重问题。聚合物膜因其良好的成孔能力、较高的柔韧性和相对较低的成本而被广泛用于废水处理，但其疏水性有限且更容易结垢。金属氧化物纳米材料由于其亲水性、较大的表面积、孔道和对病原微生物的高毒性而被广泛用于聚合物纳米复合膜的形成。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了影响膜生物污染的因素及其传统和当前的处理方法及其局限性。我们还提到了使用金属氧化物纳米材料作为抗菌剂来制造聚合物纳米复合膜，并讨论了它们的抗菌活性和抗生物污损行为。