Functionalization of PMMA/TiO2 nanocomposites: Synthesis, characterization and their antioxidant and antibacterial evaluation

The present work reports the functionalization of PMMA and its nanocomposites were synthesized via simple solution mixing method. Functionalization of PMMA with different amino containing groups, that is, ethylene diamine (ED) and 4-amino benzoic acid (PA) and used with low dosage (1 wt% and 3 wt%) of TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) to form nanocomposites. The morphology was determined by SEM, average particle size (50 nm) of TiO2 NPs was measured by TEM. The pore radius (14.47 A degrees) and specific surface area (157.89 m(2)/g) of TiO2 NPs were measured by BET analysis. FT-IR and NMR analysis confirms the functionalization of PMMA. The antioxidant activity of functionalized PMMA and its nanocomposites have been analyzed by using 2,2 diphenyl-1-picryhydrazyl (DPPH) assay. The antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) of functionalized polymer nanocomposites were investigated. The result revealed that functionalized PMMA (PMPA) shows maximum antioxidant activity. The increase in concentration of TiO2 NPs efficiently augments the bacterial inhibition against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. The maximum zone of inhibition (ZOI) was recorded against E. coli ATCC 25922 (30 mm) and S. aureus ATCC 29213 (31 mm) and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) over E. coli (64 mu g/ml) and S. aureus (32 mu g/ml) by PMPA2. The synthesized functionalized PMMA nanocomposites can be considered as promising material for biological applications.