Utilization of chitosan/Ag bionanocomposites as eco-friendly photocatalytic reactor for Bactericidal effect and heavy metals removal

• Main Authors: Al-Sayed A. Al-Sherbini, Hala E.A. Ghannam, Gamal M.A. El-Ghanam, Amr. A. El-Ella, Ahmed M. Youssef
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2019-06-01
• Series: Heliyon
• Subjects: Materials science; Chemistry; Environmental science; Antibacterial activity; Heavy metal removal; Chitosan
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844019356002

Chitosan is a nontoxic, eco-friendly, and biocompatible natural polymer which could be used in an extensive range of applications for example in the areas of membranes, biomedicine, hydrogels, wastewater treatment, food packaging. Moreover, chitosan based nanomaterials had high sorption capacities, chelating activities, stability, and versatility, that would be potentially applied as green reactants in various scientific and engineering applications. The current study involved the preparation of silver nanoparticles incorporated into chitosan thin films and used for various purposes including photo-oxidation of organic pollutants, heavy metal removal (Cd, Pb, Cr, and Fe) and antibacterial activity. The fabricated chitosan/silver (CS/Ag) bionanocomposites thin films were characterized by the ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Fourier transforms infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. Furthermore, the prepared CS/Ag bionanocomposites had revealed good photodegradation rate, heavy metals removal and antimicrobial activity against gram-negative bacteria like E. coli, and gram-positive bacteria like G. bacillus, with increasing the loading of different concentrations of chitosan and silver nanoparticles incorporated into the prepared bionanocomposite thin films. Consequently, the prepared CS/Ag bionanocomposites are considered good candidates for wastewater treatment through photo-oxidation of organic pollutants, heavy metal removal as well as respectable antibacterial materials.