Ecofriendly Composite as a Promising Material for Highly-Performance Uranium Recovery from Different Solutions

Novel Adsorbents and Adsorption Methods for Pollutant Removal

Over the past few decades, with the rapid growth of the global population and economy, the increasing levels of various pollutants such as heavy metals, radionuclides, and organic/inorganic/biological toxins from various industries and human activities, which diffuse into aspects of the environment such as the atmosphere, soil, and natural water, have posed a serious threat to human health and the environment [...].

Green synthetized Cu-Oxide Nanoparticles: Properties and applications for enhancing healing of wounds infected with Staphylococcus aureus

Treating wound infections is a challenging concern in various clinical settings in Egypt, especially in the increasing global problem of resistance to antimicrobials. Here, we aimed to fabricate CuO NPs via green synthesis using aqueous Yucca gigantea extract. Then, the effect of green synthesized CuO NPs on Staphylococcus aureus clinical isolates has been studied in vivo and in vitro. The aqueous extract of Yucca gigantea has been employed in our study as a scale-up approach to safely, affordably, sustainably, and practically fabricate copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO NPs). Fourier transforms infrared (FT-IR), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), and UV-vis spectroscopy were utilized in vitro to describe the bonding features of CuO NPs.Scanning Electron microscopy (SEM), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), and dynamic light scattering (DLS) were used to detect the morphological and elemental composition of the resulting CuO NPs. The fabrication of CuO NPs was confirmed by the IR spectral band at 515 cm-1, ensuring the metal-oxygen bondCu-O with two strong bands at 229 and 305 nm. SEM and TEM show CuO NPs with a size range from 30 to 50 nm. Cu and O comprised most of the particles produced through green synthesis, with weight percentages of 57.82 and 42.18 %, respectively. CuO NPs were observed to have a Zeta-potential value of -15.7 mV, demonstrating their great stability. CuO NPs revealed antibacterial potential toward the tested isolates with minimum inhibitory concentration values of 128 to 512 µg/mL. CuO NPs had antibiofilm potential by crystal violet assay, downregulating the expression of icaA and icaD genes in 23.07 % and 19.32 of the S. aureus isolates. The wound-healing potential of CuO NPs was investigated in vivo. It significantly decreased the bacterial burden and increased wound healing percentage compared to the positive control group. Moreover, CuO NPs caused an upregulation of the genes encoding platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) and fibronectin in tissue repair. Thus, we can use CuO NPs as a future source for wound healing materials, especially in infected wounds.

Myco-synthesized copper oxide nanoparticles using harnessing metabolites of endophytic fungal strain Aspergillus terreus: an insight into antibacterial, anti-Candida, biocompatibility, anticancer, and antioxidant activities

BACKGROUND

The overuse of antibiotics leads to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant microbes which causes high mortality worldwide. Therefore, the synthesis of new active compounds has multifunctional activities are the main challenge. Nanotechnology provides a solution for this issue.

METHOD

The endophytic fungal strain Aspergillus terreus BR.1 was isolated from the healthy root of Allium sativum and identified using internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequence analysis. The copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO-NPs) were synthesized by harnessing the metabolites of the endophytic fungal strain. The UV-Visble spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Transmission electron micrscopy (TEM), Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Dynamic light scattering (DLS), and zeta potential (ζ) were used for the characterization of synthesized CuO-NPs. The activity against different pathogenic bacteria and Candida species were investigated by agar well-diffusion method. The biocombatibility and anticancer activity were assessed by MTT assay method. The scavenging of DPPH was used to investigate the antioxidant activity of synthesized CuO-NPs.

RESULTS

Data showed the successful formation of crystalline nature and spherical shape CuO-NPs with sizes in the ranges of 15-55 nm. The EDX reveals that the as-formed sample contains ions of C, O, Cl, and Cu with weight percentages of 18.7, 23.82, 11.31, and 46.17%, respectively. The DLS and ζ-potential showed high homogeneity and high stability of synthesized CuO-NPs with a polydispersity index (PDI) of 0.362 and ζ-value of - 26.6 mV. The synthesized CuO-NPs exhibited promising antibacterial and anti-Candida activity (concentration-dependent) with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values in the ranges of 25-50 µg mL^-1. Moreover, the fungal mediated-CuO-NPs targeted cancer cells of MCF7 and PC3 at low IC₅₀ concentrations of 159.2 ± 4.5 and 116.2 ± 3.6 µg mL^-1, respectively as compared to normal cells (Vero and Wi38 with IC₅₀ value of 220.6 ± 3.7 and 229.5 ± 2.1 µg mL^-1, respectively). The biosynthesized CuO-NPs showed antioxidant activity as detected by the DPPH method with scavenging percentages of 80.5 ± 1.2% at a concentration of 1000 µg mL^-1 and decreased to 20.4 ± 4.2% at 1.9 µg mL^-1 as compared to ascorbic acid (control) with scavenging activity of 97.3 ± 0.2 and 37.5 ± 1.3% at the same concentrations, respectively.

CONCLUSION

The fungal mediated-CuO-NPs exhibited promising activity and can be integrated into various biomedical and theraputic applications.

An Eco-Friendly Approach Utilizing Green Synthesized Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles for Leather Conservation against a Fungal Strain, Penicillium expansum AL1, Involved in the Biodeterioration of a Historical Manuscript

The main hypothesis of the present research is investigating the efficacy of titanium oxide nanoparticles (TiO₂-NPs) to prevent the growth of fungal strains when applied on leather under an experimental study. Therefore, fifteen fungal strains were isolated from a deteriorated historical manuscript (papers and leathers) and identified by traditional methods and ITS sequence analysis, including Aspergillus chevalieri (one isolate), A. nidulans (two strains), A. flavus (four strains), A. cristatus (one strain), A. niger (one strain), Paecilomyces fulvus (two strains), Penicillium expansum (two strains), and P. citrinum (two strains). The enzymes cellulase, amylase, pectinase, and gelatinase, which play a crucial role in biodegradation, were highly active in these fungal strains. TiO₂-NPs were formed using the cell-free filtrate of the probiotic bacterial strain, Lactobacillus plantarum, and characterized. Data showed that the TiO₂-NPs were successfully formed with a spherical shape and anatase phase with sizes of 2-8 nm. Moreover, the EDX analysis revealed that the Ti and O ions occupied the main component with weight percentages of 41.66 and 31.76%, respectively. The in vitro cytotoxicity of TiO₂-NPs toward two normal cell lines, WI38 and HFB4, showed a low toxicity effect against normal cells (IC₅₀ = 114.1 ± 8.1µg mL^-1 for Wi38, and 237.5 ± 3.5µg mL^-1 for HFB4). Therefore, concentrations of 100 μg mL^-1 were used to load on prepared leather samples before inoculation with fungal strain P. expansum AL1. The experimental study revealed that the loaded TiO₂-NPs have the efficacy to inhibit fungal growth with percentages of 73.2 ± 2.5%, 84.2 ± 1.8%, and 88.8 ± 0.6% after 7, 14, and 21 days, respectively. Also, the analyses including SEM, FTIR-ART, color change, and mechanical properties for leather inoculated with fungal strain AL1 in the absence of NPs showed high damage aspects compared to those inoculated with fungal strains in the presence of TiO₂-NPs.

Photocatalytic Performance of Functionalized Biopolymer for Neodymium (III) Sorption and the Recovery from Leachate Solution

Successive grafting of new sorbent bearing amino phosphonic groups based on chitosan nano magnetite particles was performed through successive coupling with formaldehyde. The produced composite was characterized by the high sorption capacity toward rare earth elements (REEs) and consists of different types of functional groups (phosphonic, hydroxyls and amine groups) that are used for enhancing the sorption properties. The chemical modification and the sorption mechanism were investigated through different analytical tools; i.e., FTIR, SEM, SEM-EDX, TGA, BET (surface area) and pHpzc. The sorption was investigated toward Nd(III) as one of the REE(III) members under ultraviolet (UV) and visible light (VL) conditions. The optimum sorption was found at pH0 4 and the sorption capacity was recorded at 0.871 and 0.779 mmol Nd g−1 under UV and VL respectively. Sorption isotherms and uptake kinetics were fitted by Langmuir and Sips and by pseudo-first order rate equation (PFORE) for the functionalized sorbent, respectively. The sorbent showed a relatively high-speed sorption kinetic (20 min). The bounded metal ions were progressively eluted using 0.2 M HCl solution with a desorption rate 10–15 min, while the loss in the total capacity after a series of sorption recycling (sorption/desorption) (five cycles) was limited (around 3%) with 100% of the desorption efficiency, indicating the high stability of the sorbent toward an acidic medium. The sorbent was used for the recovery of REEs from leach liquor residue after pretreatment for the extraction of particular elements. From these results (high loading capacity, high selectivity and high stability against acid treatments), we can see that the sorbent is a promising tool for the selective recovery of rare earth elements in the field of metal valorization.

Palladium Nanoparticles Incorporated Fumed Silica as an Efficient Catalyst for Nitroarenes Reduction via Thermal and Microwave Heating

The reduction of nitroarenes to arylamines is a synthetically important transformation both in the laboratory and in industry. Herein, Palladium (Pd) nanoparticles were synthesized via incorporation with mesoporous fumed silica material by doping technique. Water was used as a solvent and the as-synthetized material was reduced by using NaBH4 to ensure the total transformation of PdO into Pd nanoparticles. The synthesized sample was characterized by using inductively coupled plasma (ICP) elemental analysis, X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), N2 sorption measurement, scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDX), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Data showed that the Pd nanoparticles were successfully synthesized and supported on the mesoporous silica with an average size in the ranges of 10–20 nm, with an irregular shape. The purity of the synthesized sample was confirmed by EDX analysis which exhibits the presence of Si, O, and Pd. The catalytic activity of the prepared sample was evaluated in the heterogeneous reduction of nitroarenes to aromatic amines. Reduction reaction was monitored by Shimadzu GC-17A gas chromatography (GC, Japan) equipped with flam ionization detector and RTX-5 column, 30 m × 0.25 mm, 1-μm film thickness. Helium was used as carrier gas at flow rate 0.6 mL/min. Interestingly, the green hydrogenation of nitroarenes to primary amine compounds was achieved in an aqueous solution with high efficiency and in a short time; moreover, the reusability of heterogeneous Pd-SiO2 was performed for four repeated cycles with more than 88% of efficiency at the fourth run. Finally, the heterogeneity of catalysis with high reliability and eco-friendly processes is a super new trend of nitroarenes reduction in the industry and economic scales.