Porous MnFe2O4@SiO2 magnetic glycopolymer: A multivalent nanostructure for efficient removal of bacteria from aqueous solution

The focuses of this research is to prepare an efficient magnetic glycopolymer for bacteria removal from aqueous solution. To perform this idea; porous MnFe2O4@SiO2 was functionalized with glucose and or maltose as an anchors to adhere onto bacteria cell surface. Aminopropyltriethoxysilane was employed to link the saccharides on magnetic nanoparticle surface. The hybrid materials were characterized with XRD, VSM, FT-IR, FESEM, TEM, zeta potential measurement and elemental mapping. Microscopic image showed that MnFe2O4 is in cluster form composed from tiny nanoparticles. After saccharide functionalization hybrid composite generate hyper-crosslinked porous structure as a result of polysilicate formation due to hydrolysis of silica source. Escherichia coli and bacillus subtilis were selected as sample pathogens to evaluate the bacteria capturing ability of the magnetic glycopolymer. At the optimum conditions (pH = 6, time of 20 min, dosage of 15 mg) removal efficiency was more than 99% using both saccharide.