Innovative polypropylene-based adsorbent functionalized by oxygen plasma and L-Arginine for efficient removal of emerging contaminants from aqueous media

The existence of organic pollutants such as dyes and antibiotics in water poses serious health risks. The use of oxygen plasma to functionalize and apply oxygen containing functional groups onto surfaces can convert them to precious and useful adsorbents. In this work, functionalization of the inner layer of the disposable masks was performed via oxygen plasma treatment and the prepared catalyst applied for the removal of methylene blue and metronidazole from aqueous systems. Oxygen plasma treated masks (PTM) were identified via the contact angle measurement and the best sample was further functionalized with aminopropyl trimethoxysilane linked to L-Arginine. The synthesized PTM-APTMS-L-arginine composite was fully analyzed by various characterization techniques including XRD, BET, TGA, and FeSEM. The FTIR and EDS analysis showed that L-arginine is well distributed in a Polypropylene matrix. Moreover, the adsorption model was in good agreement with the Langmuir model with an adsorption capacity of 254 mg/g and 1006 mg/g for MNZ and MB respectively. Kinetics data were described well by pseudo-second-order for both pollutants. The results introduced the synthesized composite as a promising candidate for the water treatment process. • Disposable face masks were treated with oxygen plasma. • Plasma treated face masks were functionalized with L-Arginine. • High adsorption capacity obtained in Metronidazole and Methylene blue removal. • Theoretically Q max values for both pollutants were in a good agreement with the experimental values.