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Gypsum plaster is essential in construction as a thermal insulator and decorative material. This study aims to protect the environment by valorizing two commonly found wastes in Algeria, namely date palm petiole fibers (DPP) and expanded polystyrene waste (EPS), to produce a gypsum plaster hybrid biocomposite material comparable to, or better than, neat gypsum plaster (NGP). Hand-made samples with different DPP mass loadings (0; 5; 10; and 15%), EPS mass ratios (0.3%), or both were used. Different morphological, mechanical, and thermophysical tests were performed on the produced hybrid composites. FTIR shows the characteristic peaks for gypsum, polystyrene, and fibers. XRD shows that NGP, EPS, and DPP are 71.58, 29.91, and 52.93% crystallinity, respectively. Compression strengths, flexural strengths, and young modulus show that EPS, DPP, or both significantly reduce all mechanical properties of prepared samples. The biocomposites produced had lower thermal conductivity (λ) (0.265–0.414 W/(m.K) at 24◦C) and bulk density (ρ) (852–925 kg/m3) than reference NGP samples witch have 0.425 W/(m.K) in thermal conductivity and 977 kg/m3 in therm of bulk density. Based on a comparative study, gypsum plaster reinforced with DPP, EPS, or both exhibits potential as a viable alternative to insulation materials, thereby offering a sustainable solution for construction purposes. • Gypsum plaster hybrid biocomposite is fabricated and characterized. • Mechanical and thermophysical properties of gypsum plaster hybrid biocomposite are investigated. • Gypsum plaster hybrid biocomposite proprieties results are interpreted and compared with other materials. • Gypsum plaster hybrid biocomposite reveals their potential application as thermal insulators for construction materials. • Potential utilization of abundant EPS or DPP waste materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Saturated sodium bentonite material was intercalated with amoxicillin. • The intercalation reaction takes place through an ion exchange process. • New hybrid materials amoxicillin loaded bentonite was elaborated. • The hybrid materials displayed a high antibacterial activity. • These materials can be used as DDS and reused several times. In this paper, natural bentonite (N-BENT) from the west of Algeria was used to prepare new inorganic-organic hybrid materials by accommodating amoxicillin (AMO) as a biological molecule in its interlayer space. The incorporation of AMO within the structure of bentonite was carried out through an ion exchange process between the interlayer's sodium and potassium cations, and the biological AMO molecules leading to two hybrids AMO1@BENT and AMO2@BENT materials with different AMO exchange rates. The intercalation of AMO between the aluminosilicate layers of bentonite material was confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis which showed that the basal spacing of bentonite shifted from 12.39 Å to ∼15 Å for both obtained hybrid materials. Other characterization methods such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and UV–Visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy validated the intercalation of AMO in the bentonite and explained the phenomenon occurred during this intercalation process. The prepared materials were tested against gram-positive which are Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis), Bacillus cereus (B. cereus) and Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and the gram-negative bacteria which are Escherichia coli (E. coli), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae), the results exhibited a very high antibacterial activity against the six bacteria. Indeed, an inhibition diameter as high as 55mm was obtained in the case of pathogenic MRSA bacteria. Furthermore, AMO2@BENT material is still very active against pathogenic MRSA bacteria after several reuses. All these results could make these low-cost hybrid materials exploitable in many different fields such as medicine, biology and the environment. Graphical abstract. [Display omitted]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]