Ureasil-Poly(ethylene oxide) Hybrid Matrix for Selective Adsorption and Separation of Dyes from Water

Abstract

Herein, we present a cross-linked ureasil-polyether-siloxane hybrid (labeled PEO500) that can function as a stimuli-sensitive material; it swells or shrinks in response to changes in the environmental conditions and it can also, effectively and selectively, remove dyes from water solution. We also developed a methodology to separate a mixture of cationic and anionic dyes present in water. Addition of PEO500 to an aqueous solution of the anionic orange II (OII) or the ponceau S (PS) dye rendered the solution colorless, but an aqueous solution of cationic methylene blue (MB) remained unchanged after 2 h of contact with the insoluble matrix. In situ small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) showed that the distance of siloxane nanodomains are strongly affected by the swelling or shriking. By in situ UV-vis adsorption experiments, we found that the kinetics of OII and PS removal followed a pseudo-first-order rate equation. We accomplished B3LYP calculations, to establish which sites on the matrix interacted with the dyes and to investigate the nature of the matrix-dye chemical bonds. On the basis of the experimental and theoretical investigations, we proposed some mechanisms to explain how PEO500 adsorbs anionic dyes efficiently. This "smart" matrix is potentially applicable as an efficient, fast, selective, and convenient device in water treatment and stimuli-sensitive response materials.

Comparative study of cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of commercial Jeffamines® and polyethylenimine in CHO‐K1 cells

“…Several works describe the use of polyetheramines as biomaterials in biomedical devices. They have been employed in nanoparticle decoration, thermo‐responsive hydrogels for drug delivery, organic–inorganic hybrids for selective adsorption and separation of dyes from water, and thermo‐associative nanoparticles for drug delivery . Because of their positive charges, amine groups, and polyether structure, Jeffamines ® can be used alone or in combination with PEI in decoration of dendrimers and others nanostructures for drug and nucleic acids delivery …”

Thermal properties, nanoscopic structure and swelling behavior of chitosan/(ureasil–polyethylene oxide hybrid) blends

“…Ureasils have been the object of intensive studies in the last years due to their wide range of applications. They can be used as solid-state electrochromic devices, tunable photo-luminescent materials, ionic conductors, adsorbents for environmental applications and drug delivery systems [3][4][5].…”

“…Polyethylene oxide (PEO) is commonly used as polyether chain in the synthesis of these hybrids [2,3,6]. It is one of the most important synthetic polymers used in the pharmaceutical industries due to its biocompatibility, nontoxicity and high water-solubility and swellability [7].…”

“…Thermal analysis; a TG (insert) and DTG curves for the U-PEO and U-PEO/CHI hybrid materials prepared with different acid catalyst and for pristine chitosan, and b enlarged curve plots in the chitosan decomposition region species and fully condensed strained hexahedral structure T3 6 (RSi(OSi) 3 ) 6 (d = -64.4 ppm)[20][21][22]…”

Magnetic hyperthermia-induced drug release from ureasil-PEO-γ-Fe2O3 nanocomposites

“…It offers efficient inclusion of high concentrations of different active molecules such as sodium diclofenac and cisplatin, for which uptake rates of 17 and 5 wt% have been reported, respectively. 9 Magnetic nanoparticles (MNP) based on iron oxide (maghemite γ-Fe 2 O 3 or magnetite Fe 3 O 4 ) are another class of materials highly suitable for use in biomedical applications, due to their biocompatibility and superparamagnetic properties. 6 In recent work, the PEO polymer has been used in drug targeting and in stimuli-responsive drug delivery systems.…”