Surface patterned graft copolymerization of hydrophilic monomers onto hydrophobic polymer film upon UV irradiation

Removal of Pb(II) from aqueous solutions using waste textiles/poly(acrylic acid) composite synthesized by radical polymerization technique

Waste textiles (WTs) are the inevitable outcome of human activity and should be separated and recycled in view of sustainable development. In this work, WT was modified through grafting with acrylic acid (AA) via radical polymerization process using ceric ammonium nitrate (CAN) as an initiator and microwave and/or UV irradiation as energy supply. The acrylic acid-grafted waste textiles (WT-g-AA) thus obtained was then used as an adsorbent to remove Pb(II) from Pb(II)-containing wastewater. The effects of pH, initial concentrations of Pb(II) and adsorbent dose were investigated, and around 95% Pb(II) can be removed from the aqueous solution containing 10mg/L at pH6.0-8.0. The experimental adsorption isotherm data was fitted to the Langmuir model with maximum adsorption capacity of 35.7mg Pb/g WT-g-AA. The Pb-absorbed WT-g-AA was stripped using dilute nitric acid solution and the adsorption capacity of Pb-free material decreased from 95.4% (cycle 1) to 91.1% (cycle 3). It was considered that the WT-g-AA adsorption for Pb(II) may be realized through the ion-exchange mechanism between COOH and Pb(II). The promising results manifested that WT-g-AA powder was an efficient, eco-friendly and reusable adsorbent for the removal of Pb(II) from wastewater.

Synthesis composite hydrogels from inorganic-organic hybrids based on leftover rice for environment-friendly controlled-release urea fertilizers

Nearly 1.3 billion tons of food are discarded annually in the production process. In this study, a novel slow-release nitrogen fertilizer with water absorbency was developed using leftover rice and crosslinking methods. Urea was incorporated as the nitrogen source in a leftover rice-g-poly(acrylic acid)/montmorillonite (LR-g-PAA/MMT) network, and then the leftover rice-g-poly(acrylic acid)/montmorillonite/Urea (LR-g-PAA/MMT/Urea) retained in the soil, and used as the loss control agent for water and nutrients. Variables including concentrations of acrylic acid, montmorillonite, N,N´-methylenebis acrylamide (MBA), and potassium persulfate (KPS) were investigated. Samples were with a water absorbency of 102.6g/g in distilled water and 25.1g/g in 1.0wt% NaCl solution under optimized conditions. Swelling measurements and water-retention indicated that higher-covalent cations would aggregate the hydrogels and decrease swelling. Investigating leaching behavior showed that these samples have the potential to carry the necessary nitrogen (N). The results demonstrated that the LR-g-PAA/MMT/Urea had a low leaching losses of N (19.7%) compared with pure urea (52.3%). Therefore, the developed fertilizer may be widely applicable in agriculture and horticulture, and could provide a new platform for reusing leftover rice.

Antifouling Stripes Prepared from Clickable Zwitterionic Copolymers

In this study, we have fabricated robust patterned surfaces that contain biocompatible and antifouling stripes, which cause microorganisms to consolidate into bare silicon spaces. Copolymers of methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine (MPC) and a methacrylate-substituted dihydrolipoic acid (DHLA) were spin-coated onto silicon substrates. The MPC units contributed biocompatibility and antifouling properties, and the DHLA units enabled cross-linking and the formation of robust thin films. Photolithography enabled the formation of 200-μm-wide poly(MPC-DHLA) stripped patterns that were characterized using atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and rhodamine 6G staining. Regardless of the spacing between poly(MPC-DHLA) stripes (10, 50, or 100 μm), Escherichia coli rapidly adhered to the bare silicon gaps that lacked the copolymer, confirming the antifouling nature of MPC. Overall, this work provides a surface modification strategy for generating alternating biofouling and nonfouling surface structures that are potentially applicable for researchers studying cell biology, drug screening, and biosensor technology.