The Effect of Low Dose of UVC Irradiation in the Sterilization Process, on the Ion Transport Properties of Chitosan Membrane As Ion Exchange Membranes

This chapter presents a study in which the effect of UV-C radiation on the characteristics of the current-voltage (I–V ) curve in a chitosan membrane was studied. The membrane used was chitosan membrane 2%. Irradiation was done at ambient temperature in air media. The membranes were irradiated for short time intervals, e.g., 10, 20, 40, and 60 min, and some of them were kept without irradiation, which was used as a control. The ion transport experiments were carried out using a cell membrane model that was composed of two compartments. The electrolyte solution used was NaCl with concentrations of 0.1 and 10 mM and the applied currents were 19–24 µA with an increment of at room temperature. The results obtained that the current-voltage curves of both groups, i.e., control and irradiated membranes,  showed the ohmic behavior (region I). The increasing exposure time caused an increase in potential difference across the membrane, which led to a decrease in the membrane conductivity. It also decreased the water uptake capability of the membrane. The results indicate that a very short UV-C irradiation (10 min) was able to change the ionic transport properties and water uptake.