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 mu m and found thermally stable below 225 degrees 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.