Physically-crosslinked hydroxyethyl cellulose-g-poly (acrylic acid-co-acrylamide)-Fe3+/silver nanoparticles for water disinfection and enhanced adsorption of basic methylene blue dye

In this study, we report the development of physically cross-linked hydroxyethyl cellulose grafted polyacrylic acid-co-polyacrylamide/silver nanocomposite [Ag@HEC-g-P(AA-co-AM)-Fe3+] possesses excellent antimicrobial and enhanced MB adsorption. A green in-situ reduction process was used to prepare silver nanoparticles. UV-Vis spectroscopy, TEM, ATR-IR, XRD, SEM-EDS were used to analyze the green produced silver nanoparticles and Ag@HEC-g-P(AA-co-AM)-Fe3+. The swelling ratio of Ag@HEC-g-P(AA-co-AM)-Fe3+ is dependent on AgNPs content and pH. The swelling kinetics fitted with Pseudo-second order. The cumulative release#% of AgNPs was 29.63 +/- 1.7%, respectively up to 10 h and its kinetics obey Korsmeyer-Peppas model. The grafting to HEC and incorporation of AgNPs into HEC-g-P(AA-co-AM)-Fe3+ enhances the thermal stabilities and increases total activation energies from 19,122.2 to 66,287.1 KJ mol. Ag@HEC-g-P(AA-co-AM)-Fe +/- has powerful antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus subtilis, Micrococcus leutus, Staphyllococus aureus. The maximum adsorption capacity of MB was 133.38 +/- 1.25 mg/g at nanocomposite concentration (300 mg/L), pH (9.0), and MB concentration (5 mg/L). To anticipate the adsorption mechanism, Pseudo-first and second-order models, as well as three isotherm models (Langmuir, Freundlich, and Temkin) were used to model adsorption kinetics. The nonlinear Langmuir models and second-order kinetics were the most appropriate.

Automated summary

In this study, physically cross-linked hydroxyethyl cellulose grafted polyacrylic acid-co-polyacrylamide/silver nanocomposite with excellent antimicrobial and enhanced MB adsorption properties was developed. Silver nanoparticles were prepared using a green in-situ reduction process and characterized using UV-Vis spectroscopy, TEM, ATR-IR, XRD, SEM-EDS. The swelling ratio of the nanocomposite was dependent on the content of AgNPs and pH. The nanocomposite demonstrated good swelling kinetics and controlled release behavior. The grafting of HEC and incorporation of AgNPs improved the thermal stabilities and activation energies of the nanocomposite. The nanocomposite showed strong antimicrobial activity against various bacteria and high adsorption capacity for MB under specific conditions.