Antibacterial Activity of Cellulose Acetate-Graphene Oxide Composites: A Comprehensive Multimethod Assessment.

Bacterial contamination remains a critical concern in the environmental and biomedical fields, driving the demand for multifunctional materials with reliable antibacterial properties. Cellulose acetate-graphene oxide (CA-GO) composites, as a class of polymer nanocomposites, offer an effective solution by combining the biocompatibility of cellulose acetate with the antimicrobial activity of graphene oxide. In this study, the antibacterial performance of CA-GO composites was systematically evaluated by using multiple analytical techniques to better understand their efficacy under diverse conditions.

Safe and Sustainable by Design MOF Beads for Selective Entrapment and Recovery of Rare Earth Elements.

We report the development of CA-BNMG-1 composite beads-cellulose acetate macrobeads embedded with nanosized copper imidazolate MOFs (BNMG-1) -engineered via nonsolvent-induced phase separation for the selective recovery of rare earth elements (REEs) from complex aqueous environments. This encapsulation strategy ensures uniform MOF dispersion, enhanced mechanical integrity, and minimized Cu(II) leaching (<1%), fulfilling the Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) criteria. The CA matrix not only mitigates copper toxicity but also enables facile bead handling, recyclability, and scalable deployment in fixed-bed systems.

An integrated multimethod approach for size-specific assessment of potentially toxic element adsorption onto micro- and nanoplastics: implications for environmental risk.

Micro- and nanoscale plastics (MnPs), arising from the environmental degradation of plastic waste, pose significant environmental and health risks as carriers for potentially toxic element (PTE) metals. This study employs asymmetrical flow field-flow fractionation (AF4) coupled with multi-angle light scattering (MALS) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) to provide a size-resolved assessment of chromium (Cr), arsenic (As), and selenium (Se) adsorption onto carboxylated polystyrene nanoparticles (COOH-PSNPs) of 100 nm, 500 nm, and 1000 nm. Cr exhibited the highest adsorption, with adsorption per particle surface area increasing from 9.