Novel Grafted Hydrogel for Iron and Ammonia Removal from Groundwater: A Synthesis and Computational Chemistry Study.

Current research is moving towards iron and ammonia elimination from groundwater. Here, we are using a poly acrylic-poly acrylamide hydrogel that is grafted with 3-chloroaniline. This copolymer was synthesized by addition polymerization technique. The effects of agitation time, dosage and adsorbent temperature on the removal process sensitivity were investigated. The copolymer was described experientially and theoretically. Isothermal kinetic adsorption models are discussed. This hydrogel could be regenerated efficiently (98.3% removal of iron and 100% removal of ammonia). The density functional theory (DFT) method, using B3LYP/6-311G(d,p), and the LANL2DZ level of the theory were managed to investigate the stationary states of the grafted copolymer and the complexation energy of the hydrogel with the studied cations. DFT has been used to investigate the Natural Bond Orbital (NBO) properties to locate the most negative centers on the hydrogel. The calculated complexation energy showed hydrogel selectivity with regard to the studied cations.

Towards a circular economy: valorization of banana peels by developing bio-composites thermal insulators.

The building construction materials are responsible for a large amount of energy and natural resource consumption. In light of the current challenges of resource scarcity and global climate change, the circular economy (CE) is a promising strategy to mitigate pressure on the environment, improve supplying of raw materials, and increase new market and employment opportunities. Developing eco-friendly thermal insulation materials based on agro-waste is a new waste management trend to achieve the sustainability of the resource and energy consumption in the construction sectors. In this work, banana-polystyrene composites were prepared by mixing the banana peels powder (BP) with polystyrene (PS) in different weight ratios (90:10, 80:20, 70:30, and 60:40). The physical and thermal properties such as thermal conductivity, electrical conductivity, Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), crystallographic structures of the fibers, X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) were carried out on BP and BP-PS1 that were prepared with ten wt.% and 20 wt.% of polystyrene powder (BP-PS2). The bio-composites results showed low thermal conductivity ranging from 0.028 to 0.030 W/m.K. The BP-PS2 exhibited a lower thermal conductivity of 0.027 W/m.K, while the pure peel powder demonstrated notable thermal stability, indicated by a total weight loss of 66.4% and a high crystallinity value of 56.1%. Furthermore, the thermal analysis (TGA) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) demonstrated that the pure banana peel has the highest thermal stability and crystallinity. These findings indicate that using banana peel-polystyrene composites represents an innovative solution for thermal insulation in buildings as an alternative to conventional materials to reduce energy and resource consumption.

Synthesis and characterization of chitosan/polyacrylamide hydrogel grafted poly(N-methylaniline) for methyl red removal.

Chitosan/polyacrylamide hydrogel grafted poly(N-methylaniline) (CS/PACM-gr-PNMA) was good synthesized by chemical oxidative radical polymerization using potassium persulphate (KPS). The obtained polymer samples are characterized using IR and Uv-visible spectroscopy. Both surface properties and thermal stability were studied using XRD, SEM, BET and TGA techniques respectively. The characterized polymeric samples were used as a new sorbent for methyl red (MR). MR as an example of azo-dyes presence as pollutants in industrial wastewater which cause physiological damages was chosen to uptake. The influence of contact time, adsorbent dose, and temperature on the efficiency of CS/PACM-gr-PNMA towards the removal of MR was investigated. The efficacy was equal to 98% through 120 min at room temperature. The obtained data show that, ∆H = -21.478 kJ mol-1, so adsorption process is physically spontaneous and follow Freundlich isotherm. The sorption process of MR on the surface of CS/PACM-gr-PNMA is proceed via the Lagergren pseudo-second order reaction. This confirms the removal mechanism by both chemical and physical adsorption of MR with both unpaired and π electrons present in polymer structure on NH, NH2, and benzene or quinoid units respectively. In addition, it can explain the chemical adsorption type which occurs through sharing between the used adsorbent materials and the dissolved materials beside the physical adsorption.

Fabrication of facile polymeric nanocomposites based on chitosan-gr-P2-aminothiophenol for biomedical applications.

Cancer is an abnormal growth of cells due to the uncontrolled division of the cells and it is the second leading cause of death globally. Immune system malfunction, inflammatory diseases, microbial infection, and oxidative damage are other causes for death. This prompted us to search for non-traditional materials that can be used as anti-cancer, anti-microbial, anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory agents. Chitosan as a non-toxic, biodegradable, biopolymer with powerful biological activity was grafted with acidified 2-aminothiophenol (2-ATH) using aqueous chemical oxidative copolymerization in presence of ammonium persulphate (APS) as an oxidant at room temperature. The prepared polymeric samples were assembled on silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). The prepared polymeric structure nano-composites were verified by infrared, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The prepared polymeric samples and their composites with AgNPs were screened for their biological activities as anti-cancer properties, anti-microbial, anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory. The obtained data reveal that chitosan-gr-poly (2-aminothiophenol) (chitosan-gr-p2-ATH) has the most potent anti-oxidant and anti-cancer effects against HepG2 while the composites of p2-ATH with AgNPs and chitosan-gr-p2-ATH with AgNPs have the most potent anti-inflammatory properties.

SPECTROSCOPIC STUDY ON POLY(ACRYLIC ACID-CO-ACRYLAMIDE)-GRAFT-POLYANILINE AS A RADIATION DOSIMETER FOR ALPHA PARTICLES.

Poly(acrylate-co-acrylamide) was a synthesis by chemical oxidation polymerization of an aqueous binary mixture of acrylate/acrylamide (1:1 mole ratio) using ammonium persulphate as an initiator at 70°C under the nitrogen atmosphere. The obtained copolymer was introduced for grafting with polyaniline. The grafting process was performed by chemical oxidation polymerization of aniline using ammonium persulphate as an initiator in hydrochloric acid media at 40°C under the nitrogen atmosphere. Poly(acrylic acid-co-acrylamide)-graft-polyaniline samples irradiated with (alpha-particles) at different irradiation doses (0, 2.33, 8.73, 13.09 and 17.46 Gy) at the same linear energy transfer. The change in the morphology, optical properties and the energy gap of poly(acrylic acid-co-acrylamide)-graft-polyaniline samples were studied.