Visible light photocatalytic degradation of polypropylene microplastics in a continuous water flow system.

Microplastic pollution of water and ecosystem is attracting continued attention worldwide. Due to their small sizes (≤5 mm) microplastic particles can be discharged to the environment from treated wastewater effluents. As microplastics have polluted most of our aquatic ecosystems, often finding its way into drinking water, there is urgent need to find new solutions for tackling the menace of microplastic pollution.

Epoxy-silica/clay nanocomposite for silver-based antibacterial thin coatings: Synthesis and structural characterization.

Development of new functional coatings in the field of health care, as antibacterial applications, deals with a straight control of the diffusive properties that rules the releasing of the active component. In this work, the development of a silver-rich nanocomposite thin coating, loaded with organically modified clay nanoparticles, is presented. The synthesis process included an environment-friendly silanization process of clay nanoparticles (Laponite® S482) with (3-glycidoxypropyl)trimethoxysilane (GPTMS) and the further hydrolytic condensation with tetraethoxysilane (TEOS).