2026/04/28 by J. Quezada-Urbina, A. Torres-Islas, E. Vázquez-Vélez · 1 voice
Materials Science · Environmental Science · Medicine · #Catalytic Processes in Materials Science #Adsorption and biosorption for pollutant removal #Plasma Applications and Diagnostics
paper · pdf · doi:10.1007/s10924-026-03832-4
openalex publication_date 2026/04/28 · openalex created_date 2026/05/02 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The growing demand for clean water is driving the development of sustainable technologies for dye removal from wastewater. In this study, recycled polylactic acid (PLA) films and PLA-CeO₂ nanocomposites were investigated as catalytic media for plasma-assisted degradation of methylene blue (MB). Before degradation experiments, the films were surface-activated using an atmospheric-pressure corona discharge. The use of recycled PLA contributes to waste valorization within a circular economy framework. Surface analyses by Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and atomic force microscopy (AFM) showed that plasma activation induces chain scission, increases crystallinity, and enhances surface roughness in PLA films. In PLA-CeO₂ nanocomposites, plasma treatment increases nanoparticle accessibility while preserving polymer structural integrity. Methylene blue degradation was carried out in a continuous flow plasma-liquid system using an atmospheric-pressure air corona discharge. Under these conditions, plasma-treated PLA films served as catalysts, achieving complete MB degradation (~100 %) within 70 minutes. Plasma-treated PLA-CeO₂ films showed a rapid initial degradation, achieving approximately 90% removal after 20 minutes, followed by a slower phase reaching approximately 96% after 60 minutes. The high catalytic activity of plasma-activated PLA is attributed to plasma-induced hydrolysis and the generation of reactive surface sites that favor heterogeneous oxidation processes. Notably, plasma-treated PLA films exhibited degradation efficiencies comparable to those of CeO₂ containing composites. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report to demonstrate the direct catalytic role of a plasma-activated polymeric substrate in dye degradation, positioning recycled PLA as a sustainable, low-cost platform for plasma-assisted wastewater treatment.