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Engineering of micron-sized spherical anionic microgel fabricated with silver nanoparticles with antimicrobial and catalytic potential

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Abstract

In this manuscript, we accomplished the engineering of poly(methacrylic acid) [p(MAA)] micron-sized microgel (MG) integrated with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). The micron-sized p(MAA) MG particles were synthesized by inverse suspension polymerization, and fabrication of silver nanoparticles was carried out via chemical reduction of Ag(I) ions in the synthesized MG network. The synthesized p(MAA) MG and p(MAA)–AgNPs composite was subjected for compositional and morphological analysis with Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), spectroscopy, and thermal gravimetric analyzer (TGA). The p(MAA) MG particles were observed to be spherical in shape with diameters in the range of 60–95 µm and found thermally stable below 225 °C. The existence of Ag in the p(MAA) MG was approved by EDX analysis. The prepared p(MAA)–AgNPs composite exhibited promising catalytic performance in the reduction of four different nitro-aromatic compounds including 4-nitrophenol (4-NP), 2-nitrophenol (2-NP), 2-nitroaniline (2-NA), and 4-nitroaniline (4-NA) with maximum reduction rates of 0.4205, 1.1222, 0.5195, and 1.6424 min−1, respectively. The catalyst was recycled for five consecutive cycles by a cost and time-effective process of filtration with gradual decrease in the catalytic activity to 10%. Also, the prepared p(MAA)–AgNPs composite was found active against Gram-negative E. coli and Gram-positive S. aureus with corresponding inhibition zones of 7 mm and 9 mm, respectively.

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Acknowledgements

Financial support from Higher Education Commission (HEC), Pakistan, under Master leading to PhD, for the students of Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan Package is highly acknowledged. The authors also wishes to acknowledge Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University Researchers Supporting project (Grant No. PNURSP2022R55), Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, 45320, Pakistan

    Sultana Rahman & Muhammad Siddiq

  2. Department of Physics, College of Science, Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, 11671, Saudi Arabia

    Fatemah F. Al-Harbi

  3. Division of Science and Technology, Department of Chemistry, University of Education, Lahore, Pakistan

    Muhammad Ajmal & Atif Naseem

  4. School of Chemistry, University of the Punjab, New Campus, Lahore, Pakistan

    Zahoor H. Farooqi

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  1. Sultana Rahman
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  2. Fatemah F. Al-Harbi
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Correspondence to Muhammad Ajmal or Muhammad Siddiq.

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Rahman, S., Al-Harbi, F.F., Ajmal, M. et al. Engineering of micron-sized spherical anionic microgel fabricated with silver nanoparticles with antimicrobial and catalytic potential. J Mater Sci 57, 6763–6779 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-022-07042-w

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