Ecofriendly zinc oxide-decorated poly-3-hydroxyalkanoate-graft-poly-methyl acrylate copolymer film for photocatalysis-mediated water treatment

• Main Authors: Ishak, Khairul Anwar, Safian, Nur Azmina Mohamed, Annuar, Mohamad Suffian Mohamad
• Format: Article
• Published: Springer 2022
• Subjects: Q Science (General); QH301 Biology
• Online Access: http://eprints.um.edu.my/42424/

The application of microbiologically produced polymer, i.e., medium-chain-length poly-3-hydroxyalkanoate (mcl-PHA), in environmental remediation technology was investigated. Mcl-PHA and its graft copolymer, polyhydroxyalkanoate-g-polymethylacrylate (PHA-g-PMA), were used as the supporting matrices to hold zinc oxide microparticles (ZnO MPs). The polymer composites, i.e., neat PHA/ZnO and PHA-g-PMA/ZnO, were tested as the catalytic support materials to enhance photodegradation of an organic dye, i.e., methylene blue (MB). PHA-g-PMA/ZnO film composite yields a significant MB photodegradation compared to the neat PHA/ZnO composite. Photodegradation performance was investigated as MB removal percentage (%) and rate constant of photocatalysis reaction (k). The enhanced photocatalytic performance in PHA-g-PMA is discussed.