Synergistic dopa-reinforced fluid hydrosol as highly efficient coal dust suppressant

[Display omitted] •The dust suppressant was fabricated by reinforcing polyacrylic acid hydrosol with dopa and glutathione redox system.•A strong double hydrogen bonding interaction was formed between the dopa polymer and polyacrylic acid.•The adhesion mechanism was elucidated by experiments combined with density functional theory calculation.•The dust suppressant can solidify into a tough mesh film on the coal dust surface. A highly efficient coal dust suppressant with low initial viscosity and high adhesion-solidification properties was fabricated by reinforcing a polyacrylic acid hydrosol with dopa and glutathione (DG) redox system. The synthesis mechanism and dust suppression properties of the dust suppressant were investigated by ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy, high-performance liquid chromatography, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy experiments combined with density functional theory calculations. The polyacrylic acid hydrosol was synthesized by free radical polymerization with an optimal concentration ratio of 0.36 % ammonium persulfate to 9 % acrylic acid; the DG redox system presented a catechol-quinone dynamic equilibrium, and the dopa polymer reinforcing adhesion was synthesized by the reverse dismutation and polymerization of dopa and dopaquinone. Results revealed that the dust suppressant system formed a multiple hydrogen bonding cross-linking network, dominated by strong double hydrogen bonding interaction formed between the carboxyl groups of dopa polymer and polyacrylic acid, and synergized by hydrogen bonds between the carboxyl groups of glutathione and PAA, and between the hydroxyl and carboxyl groups of dopa and dopaquinone. Moreover, the − OH and − COOH groups in the dust suppressant system were more tightly bonded after dehydration and can form a mesh film to effectively adhere and solidify coal dust, and the coal crust film did not raise dust at 20.526 ± 0.083 m/s wind speed.