Fabrication of biomass-derived polymer with dopamine and Ag nanoaggregates: Prevention of the biofilm of bacteria and catalytic degradation of organic dyes

Abstract

Efficacious and convenient removal of pollutants from wastewater is a worldwide challenge and a significant threat to public health and all ecosystem. Here in the present work, we synthesized a novel type of biomass-derived hollow polymer functionalized with dopamine (DA) and silver, named as (BHP@PDA/Ag) hollow catalyst. The biomass-derived hollow polymer (BHPs) was first prepared by the precipitation polymerization of trans-anethole (ANE) and maleic anhydride (MAH). After obtaining the BHP, the microspheres were modified with dopamine to obtain BHP@PDA and further incorporated with the silver nanoaggregates on its surface. The prepared BHP@PDA/Ag materials were used as a catalyst for dyes and antibacterial activates. The antibacterial activities were conducted against E. coli with different concentrations of BHP@PDA/Ag and also with laser treatment which showed a tremendous antibacterial ability. Moreover, the biofilm activity was also performed against Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) and E. coli. The BHP@PDA/Ag inhibited the biofilm of both bacteria strongly after exposure to bacterial culture solution at 37 °C for 24 h. In addition, BHP@PDA/Ag was used as a catalyst with the reducing agent NaBH4 and without the reducing agent for the degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye and acid red (AR) in wastewater, where an 89% degradation rate for MB and 93% for AR in 100 mg·L-1 solution with the reducing agent was achieved. While without the reducing agent, the degradation rate of 81% for MB and 78% for AR were achieved, respectively. The BHP@PDA/Ag catalyst exhibited high stability and recyclability. Kinetic studies revealed that the catalytic degradation of MB and AR proceeded according to a pseudo-first-order kinetics model. Overall, the remarkable performance of BHP@PDA/Ag catalyst makes them multifunctional materials for practical applications.