Microwave assisted ultrafast immobilization of CuO nanostructures in paper matrices for antimicrobial applications

• Published in: Cellulose (London) Vol. 29; no. 4; pp. 2633 - 2643
• Main Authors: Aggrawal, Sudiksha, Pradhan, Debabrata, Mohanty, Paritosh
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.03.2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Antiinfectives and antibacterials; Bioorganic Chemistry; Cellulose fibers; Ceramics; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Composites; Deactivation; E coli; Glass; Immobilization; Nanostructure; Natural Materials; Organic Chemistry; Original Research; Physical Chemistry; Polymer Sciences; Reaction time; Recyclability; Retention; Sustainable Development; CuO nanoflakes; Antimicrobial activity; Ultrafast immobilization; Microwave assisted synthesis
• ISSN: 0969-0239; 1572-882X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10570-022-04457-1

CuO nanoflakes with dimension of 50–150 nm × 200 nm were successfully immobilized on the surface of cellulose fibers by an ultrafast (5 min reaction time), scalable microwave assisted method. The high retention of CuO up to 70% has been phenomenal considering that the immobilization was carried out in the absence of any linker, binder or retention aid. Retention of almost 87% of the immobilized CuO nanostructures even after five consecutive recyclability steps has been unprecedented. The antimicrobial activities of the paper matrices have been investigated by deactivating both G. trabeum and E. coli . The CuO immobilized paper matrices have desisted the growth of G. trabeum up to 28 days and completely deactivated E. coli (CFU in order of 10 7 ) in the presence of visible light with exposure time of 2 h only. Graphical abstract