Programable sewage-cleaning technology: Regenerating chitosan biofilms with anti-bacterial capacity via self-purification of water pollutants

Jianming Wu; Shuai Chen; Qinjie Xu; Qingkai Pang; Peng Li; Yulin Li

doi:10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2024.132355

Programable sewage-cleaning technology: Regenerating chitosan biofilms with anti-bacterial capacity via self-purification of water pollutants

Int J Biol Macromol. 2024 May 15;271(Pt 1):132355. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2024.132355. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Jianming Wu¹, Shuai Chen², Qinjie Xu², Qingkai Pang², Peng Li³, Yulin Li⁴

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials and Products of Universities in Fujian, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Fujian University of Technology, Fuzhou, Fujian 350002, China. Electronic address: wjm@fjut.edu.cn.
² Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials and Products of Universities in Fujian, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Fujian University of Technology, Fuzhou, Fujian 350002, China.
³ Guangxi Key Laboratory of Calcium Carbonate Resources Comprehensive Utilization, College of Materials & Chemical Engineering, Hezhou University, Hezhou, Guangxi 542899, China. Electronic address: lemon4918@outlook.com.
⁴ Key Laboratory for Ultrafine Materials of Ministry of Education, Engineering Research Centre for Biomedical Materials of Ministry of Education, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China; College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hubei University, Wuhan 430062, China. Electronic address: yulinli@ecust.edu.cn.

PMID: 38754677
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2024.132355

Abstract

In this paper, a novel programable sewage-cleaning technology for the regeneration of antibacterial nanocomposites via the removal of wastewater pollutants is presented. Montmorillonite (MMT) was encapsulated in poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)-enhanced chitosan (CTS) hydrogels to form MMT-loaded nanocomposite biofilms (PCM). The PCM nanocomposite biofilms exhibited increased breaking strength and elongation at break, by factors of approximately 1.38 and 1.40, respectively, compared with those of the pure PVA/CTS biofilms. The maximum adsorption capacity of the PCM nanocomposite biofilms toward tetracycline and Ag(I) is 275.0 and 567.0 mg/g, respectively. The adsorbed nanocomposite biofilms exhibited excellent antibacterial properties against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. Meanwhile, the nanocomposite also showed an effective adsorption capacity toward other toxic components, where the highest adsorption capacity is 2748.0 mg/g (for methyl blue). The simulation results indicated that the adsorption behaviors of the malachite green, neutral red, methyl blue, tetracycline, Cu(II), Zn(II), and Ag(I) by the PCM nanocomposite biofilms followed pseudo-second-order kinetic and Freundlich isotherm models. Furthermore, the PCM nanocomposite biofilms are stable in PBS solution but degradable in lysozyme-containing PBS solution, suggesting their potential application in the wastewater treatment as well as antibacterial fields.

Keywords: Composite biofilms; Gelation-casting method; Programable sewage-cleaning.