Synthesis and characterization of Ag-ion-exchanged zeolite/TiO2 nanocomposites for antibacterial applications and photocatalytic degradation of antibiotics

Niloufar Torkian; Abbas Bahrami; Afrouzossadat Hosseini-Abari; Mohammad Mohsen Momeni; Meisam Abdolkarimi-Mahabadi; Ahmad Bayat; Pejman Hajipour; Hamed Amini Rourani; Mohammad Saeid Abbasi; Sima Torkian; Yangping Wen; Maryam Yazdan Mehr; Akbar Hojjati-Najafabadi

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2021.112157

Synthesis and characterization of Ag-ion-exchanged zeolite/TiO₂ nanocomposites for antibacterial applications and photocatalytic degradation of antibiotics

Environ Res. 2022 May 1:207:112157. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.112157. Epub 2021 Oct 4.

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical Engineering, Tafresh University, Tafresh 79611-39518, Iran.
² Department of Materials Engineering, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan 84156-83111, Iran. Electronic address: a.n.bahrami@iut.ac.ir.
³ Department of Cell and Molecular Biology and Microbiology, Faculty of Biological Science and Technology, University of Isfahan 817463441, Iran.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan 84156-83111, Iran.
⁵ Department of Materials Engineering, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan 84156-83111, Iran.
⁶ Institute of Functional Materials and Agricultural Applied Chemistry, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, 330045, China.
⁷ Faculty EEMCS, Delft University of Technology, Mekelweg 4, 2628 CD Delft, the Netherlands.
⁸ College of Rare Earths, Jiangxi University of Science and Technology, No.86, Hongqi Ave., Ganzhou, Jiangxi, 341000, PR China; Faculty of Materials, Metallurgy and Chemistry, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jiangxi University of Science and Technology, Ganzhou, 341000, PR China. Electronic address: a_hojjati@jxust.edu.cn.

PMID: 34619122
DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.112157

Abstract

This paper investigates the synthesis, antibacterial, and photocatalytic properties of silver ion-exchanged natural zeolite/TiO₂ photocatalyst nanocomposite. Zeolite is known to have a porous surface structure, making it an ideal substrate and framework in different nanocomposites. Moreover, natural zeolite has a superior thermal and chemical stability, with hardly any reactivity with chemicals. Finding an effective and low-cost method to remove both antibiotics and bacteria from water resources has become a vital global issue due to the worldwide excessive use of chemicals and antibiotics. This research aims to propose a facile method to synthesize Ag-ion-exchanged zeolite/TiO₂ catalyst for anti-bacterial purposes and photocatalytic removal of atibiotics from wastewaters. TiO₂ particles were deposited on the surface of natural zeolite. Ag ion exchanging was performed via a liquid ion-exchange method using 0.1 M AgNO₃ solution. X-ray diffractometry (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) were used to evaluate the structure of synthesized powders. Antibacterial activities of samples were assessed, using Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923 and Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 by disc diffusion method. It was shown that Ag-containing nanocomposite samples have an improved antibacterial performance in both cases. Results showed that the synthesized catalyst has promising potentials in wastewater treatment.

Keywords: Amoxicillin; Antibacterial; Antibiotic; Catalyst; Natural zeolite; TiO(2).

MeSH terms

Anti-Bacterial Agents / chemistry
Anti-Bacterial Agents / pharmacology
Nanocomposites* / chemistry
Titanium / chemistry
Zeolites* / chemistry

Substances

Anti-Bacterial Agents
Zeolites
titanium dioxide
Titanium