Assessment of AgNPs@Cu@Alginate Composite for Efficient Water Treatment: Effect of the Content of Cu(II) Crosslinking Agent

Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

Journal of Polymers and the Environment

Publication Date

1-1-2023

Abstract

This work concerns the preparation of multifunctional composite beads based on Cu-Alginate and AgNPs. First, the Cu-Alginate hydrogel was obtained by adding alginate at different concentrations of the crosslinking agent Cu2+ (2%, 4%, and 8%). The obtained hydrogels were modified by Ag+ species then by a chemical treatment (using NaBH4) followed by freeze-drying. The obtained aerogel beads were characterized by different methods and then were used as catalysts for the reduction of organic pollutants in a simple and binary system, and also as antibacterial and antifungal agents on different strains. The results showed the formation of a porous structure containing well-dispersed silver nanoparticles in the alginate matrix. The concentration of the Cu2+ crosslinking agent significantly influences the content of encapsulated AgNPs, the catalytic activity, and thus the antibacterial and antifungal properties of the resulting material. In the catalysis part, the Cu(2%)-ALG(AgNPs) material was selected as the most efficient catalyst due to the presence of high content of AgNPs and their good dispersion in the alginate biopolymer. High conversions of MO, 4-NP, MB, and CR were obtained in a reaction time of 2.5, 26, 23, and 29 min, respectively. Thus for binary systems, the Cu(2%)-ALG(AgNPs) catalyst was more selective with the MB dye. For antibacterial and antifungal activities all materials were effective through six strains, but it was shown that materials with unreduced Ag+ species were more effective.

ISSN

1566-2543

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Disciplines

Life Sciences

Keywords

Aerogel beads, AgNPs, Antimicrobial activities, Catalyst, Catalytic reduction, Cu-alginate

Scopus ID

85153706725

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

no

Share

COinS