Multifunctional Epoxy/Nanocomposites Based on Natural Moroccan Clays with High Antimicrobial Activity: Morphological, Thermal and Mechanical Properties

Abstract

In this study, a series of new epoxy/clay nanocomposites (ECN) has been prepared and characterized in order to investigate the properties and compare the effect of the unmodified Moroccan clay on the structure and properties of the composite materials. Five natural clays have been used to reinforce the neat epoxy resin with 1% wt and 5% wt achieving the clay dispersion only through strong milling and mechanical stirring without previous organic modifications of the clays. The quality of clay dispersion in the epoxy matrix and the morphology of nanocomposites have been studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The mechanical and thermal properties have also been investigated. The antimicrobial activity of the nanocomposites has been tested against E. coli and S. aureus in order to evaluate their applicability as advanced antimicrobial materials. The results showed that the epoxy/crude clay nanocomposites exhibited a high inhibition action attending 99% against both bacteria in the case of the clay labeled A5.

Improving the Antimicrobial and Mechanical Properties of Epoxy Resins via Nanomodification: An Overview

“…H 2 O 2 , formed extracellularly, diffused through the envelope oxidizing intracellular Fe 2+ to Fe 3+ , giving rise to radicals able to oxidize DNA and proteins, with precipitation of iron oxide and cell death. In this frame, nanoclays can be considered natural fillers bearing metal nano-moieties [ 10 ].…”

“…In reference [ 10 ], the authors tested the effects of adding different natural Moroccan nanoclays on the mechanical and antimicrobial activity of an epoxy resin. The aim of the research was to study different clays naturally available in the Moroccan region for manufacturing multifunctional nanocomposites.…”

“…The antimicrobial agent can be grafted to the polymer surface (through suitable chemical synthons as linkers), physically adsorbed (through the formation of a large number of non-covalent or electrostatic interactions, giving rise to self-assembled structures), through a surface reaction starting from a precursor forming an antimicrobial film [ 8 , 9 ], or by incorporating antimicrobial agents directly into the epoxy resin, which could be formed in the presence of it [ 10 ]. In any case, the materials with antimicrobial activity need to be tailored according to the specific applications.…”

Green Preparation of Flexible and Transparent SiO2-Fe2O3-PS film for Dye Adsorption and UV-Shielding Applications

“…Multifunctional polymer nanocomposites have gained interest in addressing various environmental and other applications such as electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding (Hakansson et al 2006), gamma shielding (Hashim et al 2018), UV shielding (Factori et al 2021), dye adsorption (Selim et al 2022), conductive lm (Hakansson et al 2006), transparent lm (Tu et al 2010), energy storage (Hashim et al 2018), sensors (Hashim et al 2018), antimicrobial (Nouri et al 2014 ;Factori et al 2021), antibacterial (Hashim et al 2018), gas barrier (Nouri et al 2014) etc. There is a lot of interest generated in the business world for manufacturing and commercializing the nanocomposites for aerospace, automotive, packaging, electronics, and other industrial sectors (Monsif et al 2019). There are examples of multifunctional composites in the literature such as; the para-toluene-2-sulfonic acid (pTSA)-polypyrrole lm shows EMI shielding and conducting properties (Hakansson et al 2006), starch-betel leaf extract lm shows antimicrobial and gas barrier properties (Nouri et al 2014), ZnO-PVA lm shows antimicrobial and UV-shielding properties (Factori et al 2021), PVA-PEG-PVP-Fe 3 O 4 shows thermal energy storage, gamma shielding, antibacterial and humidity sensors applications (Hashim et al 2018) etc.…”

Mechanical and Microscopic Properties of Graphite/Laterite Nanocomposites

“…Hydration promotion reduces the inhibition of cement hydration by the marine environment, and its double positive effect on soil and cement can effectively reduce the corrosion rate of cemented soil in marine environment and improve the compressive strength of cement foundation in marine engineering [46]. Similarly, nanomaterials and other materials form composite materials, which can also jointly ameliorate the basic physical indicators and mechanical strength of soils [47][48][49][50][51][52].…”