Synthesis and Characterization of Functional Polymeric Materials for Biomedical and Environmental Applications

Abstract

This work presents the synthesis, characterization, and uses of polymeric materials in environmental and biomedical application.. We successfully engineered micron-sized microgel (MG) polymer particles containing poly (methacrylic acid) [p(MAA)] in conjunction with silvernanoparticles (AgNPs). The micron-sized p(MAA)MG particles were created through inverse suspension polymerization, and the production of silver nanoparticles was achieved through the chemical reduction of Ag (I) ions within the fabricated MG network. The resulting p(MAA)MG and p(MAA)-AgNPs composite were subjected for compositional and morphological analysis with Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), spectroscopy, and Thermal Gravimetric Analyzer (TGA). The p(MAA) MG particles were observed to be spherical in shape with diameters in the range of 60-95 µm and found thermally stable below 225 ℃. The existence of Ag in the p(MAA) MG was approved by EDX analysis. And then the prepared composite catalyst’s catalytic activity was explored for the reduction of nitro compounds such as 4-nitrophenol (4-NP), 2-nitrophenol (2-NP), 4-nitroaniline(4-NA) and 2-nitroaniline (2-NA). The synthesized p(MAA)-AgNPs composite exhibited promising catalytic performance in the reduction of (4-NP), (2-NP), (4-NA), (2-NA) with maximum reduction rate constants of 0.4205, 1.1222, 0.5195, and 1.6424 min-1 respectively. The bare [p(MAA)] microgel was also used as adsorbents for the eradication of chemical dyes like malachite green (MG) and methylene blue (MB) and a significant adsorption capacity was observed. The contact time, adsorbate concentration and the amount of absorbent were all examined to see how they affected the adsorptive behavior of adsorbent. To examine the adsorption behavior of both dyes, data collected from experiments was modelled using the adsorption isotherms and kinetic models. The adsorption of MG dyes followed the Langmuir and the MB data fitted well in the Temkin model. Our findings suggested that dye adsorption may be employed to remediate wastewater using the synthesized adsorbents. The incorporation of metal nanoparticles in the synthesized microgels nanocomposite provided additional antibacterial advantages. Two bacterial strains (E. coli, a Gram-negative bacterium, and S. aureus, a Gram-positive bacterium) were utilized to assess the antibacterial activity of the composite xvii which was found active against E. coli and S. aureus with corresponding inhibition zones 7mm and 9mm, respectively and the results validated the nanocomposites' significant effectiveness in eradicating hazardous pathogens. A straightforward manufacturing process of Ag based nanocomposites presents a significant prospect for their usage in nanomedicines and wastewater remediation. This work also explains the synthesis of a new sensitive electrochemical sensor which was prepared by electropolymerization of o-phenylene diamine (o-pd) with poly(3,4 ethylenedioxythiophene) nanoparticles (PEDOTNPs) on a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) in aqueous solution using cyclic voltammetry (CV) in the presence of Milrinone (MIL) as template molecules. Surface modification and electrochemical properties of MIP/PEDOTNPs/GCE were specified by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) cyclic voltammetry (CV), differential pulse voltammetry DPV and SEM respectively. The electrochemical action of MIP/PEDOTNPs/GCE with MIL demonstrated that the oxidation process current signal of MIL obtained with MIP/PEDOTNPs/GCE was significantly increased compared to that of uncoated GCE. This means that amended electrode has great MIL selectivity and can speed up electron transport. Under optimal circumstances, the experimental settings were improved, MIP/PEDOTNPs/GCE showed a good linear relationship between 10-100 fM and MIL oxidation peak current and MIL concentrations and limit of detection (LOD) 2.77 fM (S/N=3). The modified electrode displayed good repeatability and stability. Moreover, MIP/PEDOTNPs/GCE was found to be effectively applicable for the detection of MIL in the samples of human serum and ampoule dosage form.