Synergistic effect of PANI–ZrO₂ composite as antibacterial, anti-corrosion, and phosphate adsorbent material: synthesis, characterization and applications

Abstract

The increasing number of bacteria-related problems and presence of trace amounts of phosphate in treated wastewater effluents have become a growing concern in environmental research. The use of antibacterial agents and phosphate adsorbents for the treatment of wastewater effluents is of great importance. In this study, the potential applications of a synthesized polyaniline (PANI)-zirconium dioxide (ZrO) composite as an antibacterial, phosphate adsorbent and anti-corrosion material were systematically investigated. The results of an antibacterial test reveal an effective area of inhibition of 14 and 18 mm for the Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus bacterial strains, respectively. The antibacterial efficiency of the PANI-ZrO composite is twice that of commercial ZrO. In particular, the introduction of PANI increased the specific surface area and roughness of the composite material, which was beneficial to increase the contact area with bacterial and phosphate. The experimental results demonstrated that phosphate adsorption studies using 200 mg P/L phosphate solution showed a significant phosphate removal efficiency of 64.4%, and the maximum adsorption capacity of phosphate on the solid surface of PANI-ZrO is 32.4 mg P/g. Furthermore, PANI-ZrO coated on iron substrate was tested for anti-corrosion studies by a natural salt spray test (7.5% NaCl), which resulted in the formation of no rust. To the best of our knowledge, no works have been reported on the synergistic effects of the PANI-ZrO composite as an antibacterial, anti-corrosion, and phosphate adsorbent material. PANI-ZrO composite is expected to be a promising comprehensive treatment method for water filters in the aquaculture industry and for use in water purification applications.

An in situ grown amorphous ZrO2 layer on zeolite for enhanced phosphate adsorption

“…The successful fitting by Langmuir model indicates the mechanism of a monolayer adsorption on the surface of adsorbing materials, and the negligible interactions between Zr( iv ) and phosphate anions. 34 Similar results have been reported when ZrO 2 NPs/SiO 2 membrane, 19 Fe 3 O 4 @ZrO 2 composite, 22 PANI-ZrO 2 composite, 35 etc. were employed as adsorbents to adsorb phosphates.…”

Progress in Conductive Polyaniline-Based Nanocomposites for Biomedical Applications: A Review

“…Silver NPs and carbon nanotubes incorporating PANI showed higher antibacterial activity than PANI-carbon nanotubes and PANI-Ag nanocomposites because of the synergistic effect of the fillers . In another study, the antibacterial effect of the ZrO 2 NPs-PANI nanocomposite against E. coli and S. aureus was determined to be higher than that of the pure PANI …”

“…71 In another study, the antibacterial effect of the ZrO 2 NPs-PANI nanocomposite against E. coli and S. aureus was determined to be higher than that of the pure PANI. 72 The polymers containing quaternary ammonium compounds have high antibacterial and antifungal activity. 73,74 Therefore, copolymers of PANI with the biopolymers containing quaternary ammonium salts, such as chitosan, have been employed to improve the antibacterial activity with enhancement of the biocompatibility of PANI.…”

Zirconia-based nanomaterials: recent developments in synthesis and applications

“…The authors used marine brown alga, Sargassum wightii for the synthesis of zirconia nanoparticles having the size of ∼4.8 nm. Masim et al 106 prepared a polyaniline zirconia (PANI-ZrO 2 ) composite and employed it for the treatment of wastewater. The obtained composite showed antibacterial and anti-corrosion activity and acted as a phosphate adsorbent material.…”