Biofouling is one of the major challenges for reverse osmosis (RO) membranes. Commercial RO membranes coated with different loadings (0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7 and 0.9 wt% in solution) of iron nanoparticles (nZVI or FeNPs) were submitted to accelerated biofouling under high-pressure crossflow, using pretreated, sterilized seawater from the Sea of Cortez (Mexico) inoculated with Bacillus halotolerans MCC1 (10⁹ CFU mL⁻¹) as feed. FeNPs were synthesized and characterized (zeta potential, XRD, and SEM) via a reduction method. Coated and uncoated membranes were characterized for roughness, contact angle, surface free energy, XPS, FESEM, water and salt permeance, membrane resistance, fouled flux and fouling resistance. The coated membranes showed a slight increase in roughness and contact angle and a reduction in surface free energy. After accelerated biofouling, the coated membranes showed lower hydraulic resistance and higher permeate flux than the uncoated membrane, albeit with slightly lower salt rejection. Moreover, membrane autopsies revealed a highly significant reduction in biofilm thickness, total cells, TOC, and live and dead cells for the coated membranes relative to the uncoated membrane. The FeNP loading using a 0.3 wt% solution was found to be the most suitable tradeoff between biofilm prevention and flux decline for desalination processes.

生物污染是反渗透 (RO) 膜面临的主要挑战之一。商业 RO 膜涂有不同负载量（溶液中 0.1、0.3、0.5、0.7 和 0.9 wt%）的铁纳米颗粒（nZVI 或 FeNPs），在高压横流下使用预处理、消毒的海水进行加速生物污染。用Bacillus halotolerans MCC1 (10 ⁹  CFU mL ^-1 ) 接种的 Cortez (墨西哥)) 作为饲料。通过还原方法合成并表征了 FeNPs（zeta 电位、XRD 和 SEM）。对涂层和未涂层​​的膜进行了粗糙度、接触角、表面自由能、XPS、FESEM、水和盐渗透性、膜阻力、污染通量和污染阻力的表征。涂层膜的粗糙度和接触角略有增加，表面自由能有所降低。在加速生物污染后，涂层膜显示出比未涂层膜更低的水力阻力和更高的渗透通量，尽管脱盐率略低。此外，膜尸检显示，相对于未包被膜，包被膜的生物膜厚度、总细胞、TOC 以及活细胞和死细胞显着减少。FeNP 加载使用 0。